Judge Chris Nicholson may have to explain his ruling in the Jacob Zuma case if a complaint is lodged with the Judicial Service Commission.

This emerged on Monday following widespread reaction to the full bench judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal, with many legal experts saying that it constituted a scathing indictment of Judge Nicholson.

The Appeal Court said that "for reasons that are impossible to fathom", Judge Nicholson had failed to adhere to some basic tenets of the law:

• By failing to confine his judgment to the issues before the court.
• By deciding matters that were not relevant.
• By creating new factual issues.
• By making gratuitous findings against persons who were not called upon to defend themselves.
• By failing to distinguish between allegation, fact and suspicion.
• By transgressing the proper boundaries between judicial, executive and legislative functions.

The Nicholson judgment, which quashed the charges against Zuma and formed the catalyst for the ousting of Mbeki, was overturned on Monday.

Commission spokesperson advocate Marumoe Moerane said late on Monday that no complaint had yet been lodged with the commission.

"The JSC operates largely on the basis of complaints, so if there is a complaint about Judge Nicholson and the way he went about the Zuma matter, the JSC will look into it, but not otherwise."

• This article was originally published on page 5 of The Cape Argus on January 13, 2009

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