Section 180: Appointment of judges

(1) The Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice, and the Judge President of the High Court and all other judges are appointed by the President in accordance with this section.

(2) The Chief Justice, the Deputy Chief Justice, and the Judge President of the High Court shall be appointed by the President after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission.

(3) If the appointment of a Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice or Judge President of the High Court is not consistent with any recommendation made by the Judicial Service Commission in terms of subsection (2), the President shall cause the Senate to be informed as soon as is practicable:

Provided that, for the avoidance of doubt, it is declared that the decision of the President as to such appointment shall be final.

(4) Subject to subsection (4a), whenever it is necessary to appoint a judge, other than the Chief Justice, Deputy Chief Justice, Judge President or a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, High Court, Labour Court or Administrative Court to be a judge of the next higher court, the Judicial Service Commission must—

    (a) advertise the position; and

    (b) invite the President and the public to make nominations; and

    (c) conduct public interviews of prospective candidates; and

    (d) prepare a list of three qualified persons as nominees for the office; and

    (e) submit the list to the President; whereupon, subject to subsection (5), the President must appoint one of the nominees to the office concerned.

[Subsection substituted by s. 12 of Act No. 2 of 2021]

(4a) Notwithstanding subsection (4) the President, acting on the recommendation of the Judicial Service Commission may, at any time whenever it is necessary to do so, appoint a sitting judge of the Supreme Court, High Court, Labour Court or Administrative Court to be a judge of the next higher court.

[Subsection inserted by s. 12 of Act No. 2 of 2021]

(5) If the President considers that none of the persons on the list submitted to him or her in terms of subsection (4)    (e) are suitable for appointment to the office, he or she must require the Judicial Service Commission to submit a further list of three qualified persons, whereupon the President must appoint one of the nominees to the office concerned.

(6) The President must cause notice of every appointment under this section to be published in the Gazette.

(7) The offices of senior judge of the Labour Court and senior judge of the Administrative Court must be filled by another judge or an additional or acting judge, as the case may be, of the court concerned, and are appointed by the Chief Justice after consultation with the Judicial Service Commission.

[Section substituted by s. 6 of Act No. 10 of 2017]