Gregory Ally’s response to the Judicial Service Commission reveals a dangerous disconnect between ambition and judicial responsibility.
Just when you thought you had heard it all in terms of absurdity, along comes Gregory Ally, who has such a high opinion of his legal prowess that he nominated himself for a position as a judge in the Gauteng Division of the High Court.
The interviewing panel of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) were taken aback by Ally’s novel way of attempting to insert himself into the upper echelons of the judicial system.
JSC’s Mvuzo Notyesi asked Ally whether he had not read the advert for the positions… which then left the door open for the wannabe judge to respond – in the way only a lawyer could – that the advert did not specify who could make the nomination.
“But it is what it is,” was Ally’s eloquent attempt to bring that particular line of questioning to an end.
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Then it also emerged that the advocate sat as an acting judge for a time and had a pile of incomplete judgments.
He couldn’t even remember how many of them there were, although Chief Justice Mandisa Maya reminded him that one involved a minor.
The saddest thing is that, though Ally is clearly a legend in his own mind, no-one else believed in him.
