Deputy Speaker, very small wrong turns can have disastrous consequences for a nascent and still very fragile democracy.
Our country, our Constitution, our democracy and our judiciary have not come out smelling of roses after the odd ruling by the Judicial Service Commission, JSC, that it will refuse to continue to probe the charges of misconduct against Justice Hlophe.
In fact, by not fully resolving the issue, the point raised by both Justices Jafta and Nkabinde remains unanswered, while the credence of what Justice Hlophe said appears to have been accepted. This is juristically untenable.
At a more fundamental level, the question of whether Justice Hlophe had indeed been given a political mandate to approach the two justices privately and, as was alleged, to intimidate them, remains unanswered.
Cope, therefore, supports the endeavour by Freedom Under Law to approach the courts to assess objectively whether or not the JSC fulfilled its mandate to look at the issues as raised by them. The law has to take its course.
We, therefore, commend Freedom Under Law for raising these issues of great legal importance. When there are two versions of an event, there is a duty to determine where the truth lies. There cannot be a correct version by Justice Hlophe and another correct version by Justices Nkabinde and Jafta; only one has to emerge. Thank you. [Applause.]