They are taking place in the context of former minister Sydney Mufamadi’s testimony to the Zondo Commission that during the Zuma era, the State Security Agency set aside millions to buy off judges hearing matters involving former president Jacob Zuma.
And they are taking place in the context of an imbroglio revolving around Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s public criticism of South Africa’s relationship with Israel: comments for which he has been ordered to apologise by the Judicial Conduct Committee and thus far refuses to comply.
Little wonder, then, that there appeared to be tension in the air at the interviews to fill two vacancies on the Constitutional Court this week, with questions heavy with subtext.