Readers of this Blog already know that Minister Jeff Radebe (LLM Leipzig) has some pretty strange views about the Constitution. We also know that he is not a man to let the facts or an authoritative interpretation of the Constitution intrude on an expedient political argument. So it should come as no surprise that in [...]
Posts under ‘Constitution’
Be afraid, be very afraid
So, imagine you are driving home late at night in your BMW. You hear a screeching of tyres and see two overweight men pointing their guns at your head. You panic and – as if you are now sitting behind the wheel of one of those malfunctioning Toyota’s – your car accelerates. Bam! Bam! In [...]
Mpshe’s appointment: scandalous attack on independence of the judiciary
Maybe we are all suffering from abuse-of-power-fatigue? What with the probably unlawful dropping of charges against President Jacob Zuma, the probably unlawful firing of Vusi Pikoli as National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), the clearly unlawful granting of “medical parole” to Schabir Shaik – that “terminally ill” (ha!) friend of President Zuma’s - (the same friend who was [...]
Cwele should step aside
The arrest of Sheryl Cwele, wife of the Minister of State Security Siyabonga Cwele, on drug trafficking charges is in many ways a remarkable event. Cwele and co-accused Frank Nabolis (who, playing into prevalent xenophobic attitudes, have consistently been identified by the media as a Nigerian) face three charges: dealing or conspiring to deal in drugs; [...]
Fifa World Cup: bad for human rights?
When South Africa won the right to host the 2010 Fifa World Cup many of us danced in the streets (in a manner of speaking). Finally, we had won the right to host a really major international sporting event (no offence to rugby and cricket, but those World Cups were Micky Mouse compared to the [...]
Nationalisation of the Reserve Bank?
I was rather intrigued by news reports that Gwede Mantashe, Secretary general of the ANC, has hinted that the ANC-led government should consider nationalising the South African reserve Bank (SARB). Mantashe said that the “South African Reserve Bank is one of less than five central banks in private hands in the world”.
My first thought was [...]
More questions on the AbaThembu King
Very few people – least of all anyone in government – seem to be taking seriously the claim by Votani Majola, lawyer for King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, that the AbaThembu tribe had seceded from South Africa. This is curious, given the fact that Dalindyebo was confirmed as the only King of the AbaThembu in 2008 by a [...]
Why the Rule of Law matters
A news report this morning sadly reminded me of the novel, The White Tiger, in which Arivind Adiga provides a cunning and often brutal depiction of India’s class struggles. The fortunes of the main character, Balram Halwai, a cynical, foul-mouthed, but witty narrator, rise after he murders his boss.
In the novel Balram, a chauffeur, recounts his transformation from [...]
Can the abaThembu secede from South Africa?
Can those sad folks living in the Afrikaner quasi-homeland of Orania (where they even have a monument to the Koeksister!) secede from South Africa if they decide they do not like to be governed by the ANC government anymore and would rather do Volkspele and play Jukskei (a game so tedious that it makes bowls [...]
On reasonable accommodation
Few recent events have highlighted the racial fault lines in South African society more starkly than the recent death of Manto Tshabalala-Msimang. While many South Africans (mostly white) have welcomed the death of the late Minister, pointing to her disastrous management of the HIV/AIDS crisis and the untold suffering and death caused by it, many [...]
