Mogoeng files appeal – won’t apologise for Israel remarks
He was ordered by the Judicial Conduct Committee to retract and apologise for his pro-Israel utterances he made last year.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. Picture: GCIS
According to a report by TimesLive, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng filed a 39-page appeal on Saturday 3 April 2021 against a ruling ordering him to apologise and retract his public comments on SA’s foreign policy on Israel.
He was ordered by the Judicial Conduct Committee to retract and apologise for his pro-Israel utterances he made last year.
In June 2020, Mogoeng said he had an obligation, as a Christian, to love and pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
He made the comments during a webinar hosted by The Jerusalem Post.
“It is as binding on me as any other law would bind on me, so whatever I have to say should not be misunderstood as an attempt to say the policy direction taken by my country in terms of their constitutional responsibilities is not binding on me.
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“But, just as a citizen, any citizen is entitled to [criticise] the Constitution of South Africa, [and] is entitled to criticise the laws and the policies of South Africa or even suggest that changes are necessary – and that’s where I come from,” he said during the webinar.
Judge Phineas Mojapelo, in his ruling in March, directed the chief justice to apologise as follows: “I, Mogoeng Mogoeng, Chief Justice of the Republic of South Africa, hereby apologise unconditionally for becoming involved in political controversy through my utterances in the online seminar [webinar] hosted by The Jerusalem Post on 23 June 2020, in which I participated.”
According to SAfm news, the Judicial Conduct Committee of SA has acknowledged receipt of papers from Mogoeng to appeal the decision by the JCC over his comments on Israel.
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