News24 | 'No right or wrong' in legal interpretation, judge who found Zuma eligible to be an MP tells JSC

Former president Jacob Zuma. (Darren Stewart/Gallo images)

Under fire over how the Electoral Court wrongly found that former president Jacob Zuma was eligible for election to Parliament, its chairperson, Judge Dumisani Zondi, has insisted that there is "no right or wrong approach" when it comes to how courts interpret statutes.

While that response was greeted with concern by ANC MP and Judicial Service Commission (JSC) commissioner Thamsanqa Dodovu, who contended that an incorrect elections ruling had the potential to "cause civil war", the commission on Tuesday resolved that Zondi was a suitable candidate to be appointed deputy president of the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).

The JSC also supported President Cyril Ramaphosa's choice for chief justice, by finding that Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya was a suitable candidate to lead a judiciary that she described as profoundly under-resourced, forced to work in broken and often unsafe courts, and frequently the target of ill-informed or untrue claims about its rulings.

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