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 [...]
Posts under ‘Criticism of Courts’
Appointments to the Constitutional Court
A (short) lesson for our Minister of Justice on the Rule of Law
Our new Minister of Justice, Jeff Radebe, is a lawyer and has a Masters degree in International Law from that august institution, the University of Karl Marx in Leipzig, but he might need some assistance to bring him up to speed with the structure and principles underlying our own Constitution. And I am not sure [...]
Trying to manufacture figs out of horse manure….
I was rather harshly criticised for saying (only somewhat) tongue in cheek that if I was a judge on the Constitutional Court I would say a little prayer every day that Judge President John Hlophe does not fire his legal team. But if a report on the Legalbrief website is anything to go by, I [...]
ANC, know your Constitution (II)
I see dear Comrade Gwede Matashe, Secretary General of the ANC, has been at it again. This weekend he attacked the judges of the Pretoria High Court who rejected the ANC assertion to have an exclusive claim to the name Congress of the People. Dear Gwede, who last wrongly claimed to have been misquoted when [...]
The double standards of Jacob Zuma supporters
We are often told that Jacob Zuma has a right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty. Some go further and argue that we are not allowed to make any adverse ethical judgment about the President of the ANC because if we did this we would be infringing on his right to a fair trial [...]
Zille maybe not so Zilly?
Maybe I owe an apology to Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance? I harshly criticised her earlier this year for challenging the constitutionality of the Erasmus commission of enquiry set up by then Premier Ebrahim Rasool, arguing that she appeared shifty and less than honest. I was particularly scathing of her criticism of Judge [...]
Road Accident Fund: fighting a cartel or stuffing up?
Criticizing courts or judges is a tricky thing. Not that the lot at Luthuli House would notice. I was reminded again of how tricky it is to criticize judges responsibly when I read the judgment of acting Judge President Janet Traverso in the case brought against the Road Accident Fund (RAF) by the Law Society [...]
