A bad week for John Hlophe

Good week: Duhan van der Merwe

So Van der Merwe walks into a dressing room where all these rugger-buggers are talking English. Not a Klippies and Coke in sight — only Champagne, and all thanks to Van. On Saturday night Duhan van der Merwe was the toast of Scotland after his three-try, match-winning performance in the 30-21 victory over England. He’s not even Scottish but, as one scribe put it: “He may not be from the Borders or Glasgow or Edinburgh, but he was as popular as if he had been born in all three places.” He’s from George, of course, on the Garden Route.

Bad week for John Hlophe

John Hlophe’s fall from grace happened slowly — then suddenly. Last week MPs voted overwhelmingly — 305 votes to 25 — to impeach the former judge president of the Western Cape High Court. The transgression at issue was his attempt to persuade two Constitutional Court judges to favour Jacob Zuma in the arms deal saga. But there were many other blots on his CV: delayed judgments, excoriation by the Supreme Court of Appeal, accusations of racism, conflicts of interest, ordering homeless people evicted — and greed. He insisted on a Porsche Cayenne rather than a plain old Merc as his car.