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I don't feel like a 'junk' person - judge candidate
04 April 2017
Johannesburg – South Africa’s credit ratings downgrade must not reflect how South Africans feel about themselves, Judge Jody Kollapen said on Tuesday.
“I don’t think that our credit rating as junk status must reflect how we feel about who we are, as citizens of this country. I don’t feel like a junk person, I feel like a proud South African,” he said during interviews at the JSC for a position at the Constitutional Court.
Johannesburg – South Africa’s credit ratings downgrade must not reflect how South Africans feel about themselves, Judge Jody Kollapen said on Tuesday.
“I don’t think that our credit rating as junk status must reflect how we feel about who we are, as citizens of this country. I don’t feel like a junk person, I feel like a proud South African,” he said during interviews at the JSC for a position at the Constitutional Court.
He was responding to a question from Judicial Service Commission (JSC) member Julius Malema.
Ratings agency
“What do you call citizens who live in a junk state? Are they not called junkies?” Malema had asked him.
Kollapen said he did not want to get into the politics of ratings agencies.
“The ratings agency has made a decision. There is a debate in society about whether that decision is great or not and what is the criteria that the ratings agency used and whether they are selective,” he said.
The JSC is conducting interviews in Midrand until Friday.
Kollapen is the former head of the South African Human Rights Commission and was appointed to the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria in 2011.
On Monday evening, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s downgraded South Africa to sub-investment grade. It said President Jacob Zuma’s massive Cabinet reshuffle on Thursday night put policy continuity at risk.
Good stead for job
Zuma fired Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas.
Kollapen said the country might be “junk” as an investment destination, but said it had extraordinary citizens.
He appeared confident in front the commissioners and said his experience would stand him in good stead for the job.
There are five candidates vying for a Constitutional Court position.
Source: News 24
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