President Jacob Zuma is considering designating three new members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), the Presidency said on Friday.

The Constitution allows for the president to designate four members of the JSC after consulting with party leaders represented in the National Assembly, his spokesperson Bongani Ngqulunga said.

He had therefore written to political party leaders requesting that they provide their input.

“The new members will fill the three vacancies occasioned by the president’s decision to replace members that he had previously designated to the JSC.”

It also deals with all complaints brought against judges.

Preferred candidates

Zuma is considering designating Advocate Thandi Norman, Sifiso Msomi and Advocate Thabani Masuku.

Norman was the first black woman to be admitted to the bar as a senior advocate in KwaZulu-Natal.

Her preferred areas of practice include shipping, competition, constitutional and administrative law.

She was part of the Goldstone Commission in 1995, which was appointed to look into extreme taxi violence in the Eastern Cape at the time.

She was also evidence leader in the Pillay Commission in 2005. The commission investigated the inefficiencies, irregularities and impropriety in the Eastern Cape’s government departments.

Norman has been in acting judge positions since 2002 in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.

Msomi, of the Black Lawyers Association, earned his degrees from the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

He specialises in all aspects of property, including sectional title transactions, notarial bonds, leases and servitudes, and general conveyancing.

Masuku, the former head of Advocates for Transformation, was admitted as an advocate in 1999.

He was an evidence leader in the inquiry into suspended National Police Commissioner Riah Phiyega’s fitness to hold office.