It was ‘not what I intended to convey’: Judge tells JSC he amended his book after homophobia claims

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It was 'not what I intended to convey': Judge tells JSC he amended his book after homophobia claims
It was 'not what I intended to convey': Judge tells JSC he amended his book after homophobia claims

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Acting KwaZulu-Natal judge president Isaac Madondo, who was accused of being “homophobic” during a previous Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interview, is back again, vying for the judge president position in the KwaZulu-Natal division.

In April, Madondo was the only person the JSC interviewed for the post, but he was not recommended.

At the time, commissioner Narend Singh asked him about what he had written in a chapter in a book, Revelations of God’s Truth and Plan, which was published in 2019. Singh wanted to know if Madondo thought the extract could be construed as homophobic.

But Madondo responded that the chapter was quoted out of context and that in its entirety, it “doesn’t portray that”.

He also said the chapter was about God and the Bible, and denied that he was homophobic.

JSC member Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula said at the time:

On Friday, Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya, who chairs the interviews, asked Madondo to address the commission on a submission he had made in his application.

Madondo responded that after realising how some of the commissioners interpreted the portion of the book, he decided to “review” it and put it into “proper context and perspective”.

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“The way it was interpreted is not what I intended to convey. That concerned me much to such an extent that I was accused of being homophobic, so I said let me look at this thing and see how I can address it because I didn’t want to be offensive; maybe I made a mistake somehow. So, I corrected what they complained of,” he said.

Madondo added he had also enrolled for a “leading diversity and inclusion course to learn more about this” at Cape Town university, and to enhance his leadership skills.

Madondo added:

Maya asked: “Are you saying you made changes to the text of the book?”

Madondo said: “I made changes to what they were complaining of. Just to remove the text that they complained of.”

The judge and two others are vying for the position.

The interviews continue.

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