Maybe all this goodwill, peace, love and happiness generated by the World Cup in South Africa have finally turned my brian into a mushy pulp. (Miss World contestants must be horrified by the World Cup: with all this love and peace going around they must have nothing left to do but look pretty and sniff [...]
Posts under ‘Criticism of Courts’
Human Rights Commission pro-poor stance must be applauded
The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) were lambasted by DA leader Helen Zille for finding that the City of Cape Town had violated the dignity of residents of Makhaza by not enclosing the toilets it had provided to them and for not adequately consulting with the community about the issue. Zille said in an [...]
Wake up and worry about the real threats to our democracy
I really do not understand why everyone is making such a fuss about the murder of a completely irrelevant, right wing, racists, megalomaniac like Eugene Terreblanche. Of course, it is always tragic when someone is killed, and Mr Terreblanche’s family and friends must feel much sadness at his passing – something we must try and respect.
But although the [...]
The past is very unpredictable and may not exist
Evita Bezuidenhout, talking about the revelations of apartheid era Vlakplaas hitsquads and the claim by many white South Africans that they never knew about the extra-judicial killing and torture of black South Africans by the police, said that ”the future is certain; it’s the past that is unpredictable”.
Last week the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) reminded us how true [...]
On precedent and Mr Von Abo
High Court judges are supposed to have a duty to follow the precedent set by the Constitutional Court and they have to do so in an honest and diligent manner. As readers of this Blog know, I believe South African High Court judges do not always adhere to this injunction. This is either because judges are ignorant [...]
Urgently wanted: judicial training
Many South African judges are notoriously prickly about the need to undergo further judicial education. Despite the fact that Parliament passed the South African Judicial Education Institute Act in 2008, the Institute has not yet trained any judges or aspirant judges and it is unclear when it will start its work in earnest. Yet most [...]
Pulling a Menzi Simelane
In the past I have been critical of the way in which the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has been fulfilling its constitutional obligations as required by the Constitution. The preposterous decision of a majority of members on the disciplinary committee of the JSC (all but one of the lawyers on the JSC committee voting with [...]
Constitutional Court tries to fix its own balls-up
It’s not only State Prosecutor Gerrie Nel that makes “mistakes” (otherwise known as a balls-up). Today the Constitutional Court handed down judgment in the case of Gcaba v Minister of Safety and Security, in effect overturning or “clarifying” previous judgments handed down in Fredericks (in 2002) and Chirwa (in 2007) without actually saying so explicitly.
This [...]
The irritating Mr Ramatlhodi
Newly elected chair of Parliament’s Justice Committee, Ngoako Ramatlhodi, is new in the job, so maybe he will still learn to think before he speaks. The honorable member of Parliament, who faced charges of corruption before they were mysteriously dropped by the NPA, is not off to a good start and has made some statements [...]
Appointments to the Constitutional Court
In a few months the Chief Justice and three Constitutional Court judges must retire. The President will then have to appoint a new Chief Justice as well as four new Constitutional Court Justices (assuming the Chief Justice will be appointed from among the existing members of the Constitutional Court).
Section 174(3) states that the President must [...]
