Johannesburg — ISSUES of racial and gender transformation occupied a good part of the interviews for permanent positions to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA), conducted by the Judicial Service Commission yesterday.

Of the 21 permanent SCA judges , eight are black and three are women . Of the six candidates interviewed yesterday for the two posts, two were black and two were women . The candidates, Northern Cape Judge President Frans Kgomo, Eastern Cape High Court judges Eric Leach, Lusindiso Pakade and Nonkosi Mhlantla, and Johannesburg High Court judges Frans Malan and Suretta Snyders, were all questioned about what could be done to promote equity.

Malan and Mhlantla spoke of the problem of briefing patterns: often where clients could demand that female and black counsel were briefed, attorneys did not do so. Malan said that in a case brought by the City of Johannesburg and the Johannesburg Municipal Pension Fund, all seven counsel were white men. He also said big black economic empowerment companies tended to brief white men .

Leech said transformation should be more than just representivity; it was also a state of mind. He said his sensitivity to inequality would bring an important contribution to the SCA.

Snyders said her experience of being a judge was being "successful in a man's world", and said the only way to obtain the respect of her older male colleagues was through her work. She and Mhlanthla both said mentoring junior judges was important.