Judges opposed to spouse, children disclosure

SENIOR judges and leaders in the judiciary said yesterday they were never against calls for judges to disclose their financial and other interests, but remained opposed to the disclosure of the financial interests of their family members, especially their spouses and children. The heads of court, who are some of the country’s most senior judges, were responding to media reports in which several lawyers’ associations and other interested parties in the legal and academic fraternity have voiced support for calls on judges to disclose their financial interests.

While MPs’ financial interests are open to the public, the heads of court want the information on their financial interests to be confidential. The heads of court comprise of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng; the president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Lex Mpati, and his deputy, Kenneth Mthiyane; and the judges president of the high courts and specialist courts. Following a number of comments by legal bodies stemming from oral submissions by a delegation of judges to the parliamentary ad hoc joint committee on the code of judicial conduct on disclosure of interests last month, the heads of court said they felt it was necessary to set the record straight.

The judges said at the end of a consultative meeting in Cape Town last Friday that they had never been opposed to calls for disclosure, subject to the issue of confidentiality, on which they hoped to have further discussions with the relevant authority. They said their main and unequivocal opposition was to the current provisions’ call for disclosure of the financial interests of judges’ family members. "Quite frankly, we do not see what public interest would be served by the disclosure of spouses’, partners’ and children’s financial interests as the provisions currently call for. We vehemently oppose wholesale disclosures in so far as our spouses, partners and children are concerned. "However, we welcome wholeheartedly, as we have always done, calls for judges to register their financial and other registrable interests, especially in so far as it would help prevent any possible corruption or perception thereof," the heads of court said.

The judges said they would also welcome any investigation of any retired or sitting judges and their family members suspected of any improper or other misconduct that could bring the judiciary into disrepute.

Last week, the Black Lawyers Association said as custodians of the interpretation and application of the constitution, which was unequivocal on issues of transparency and accountability by all arms of government, the judiciary had a duty to lead on transparency.

Earlier this month, the Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution and the National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel) were in support of the principle of disclosure by judges. Nadel said it accepted that it was arguable that disclosure of the financial and business interests of a judge’s family members infringed their right to privacy. However, it said that right was not absolute. Nadel said the obligation on the judge and his or her family to disclose was in the national democratic interest and should be supported.

Source: Business Day