South Africa: Urgently needed — a careful discussion about who can be a parliamentarian

Last week, uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) nominated the impeached judge John Hlophe as its representative on the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). Technically, once an MP goes to the JSC, they represent Parliament and not their party.

This was a deliberate choice by MK, which knew that it would create controversy. 

Whatever the political intention, the result is that Hlophe, whom the JSC impeached for being unfit to be a judge, now sits on that same body. While there may be legal and political…