Earlier this week former Deputy Chief Justice (DCJ) Dikgang Moseneke recommended that South Africa’s local government election be postponed to February 2022. The Constitution requires these elections to be held before the end of October, which means the only fail-safe legal way to postpone these elections is through a constitutional amendment, something that would be very difficult to do. Unfortunately, the alternative legal mechanism proposed by justice Moseneke to legalise the postponement is both constitutionally undesirable and uncertain to succeed.
At first glance, the decision whether to postpone the local government elections scheduled for October 2021 to February 2022, is an impossible one to make. This is partly because it is impossible to predict with any certainty what the Covid-19 situation will be in late October or in February next year. Moreover, whatever the situation will be, Covid will still be with us, and some Covid restrictions are likely to be in place whether the election is held in October or in February next year. This means, whether the election is held now or early next year, it is unlikely to be perfect. (more…)
-
14 July 2021
State of emergency – careful what you wish for
In response to widespread protest, looting, destruction of property, sabotage, and a significant loss of life, in parts of KwaZulu-Natal […]
-
5 July 2021
Jacob Zuma’s contempt of court: an attempted appeal masquerading as a rescission application
In a dramatic about-turn, and in yet another desperate attempt to avoid the consequences of his actions, former President Jacob […]
-
30 June 2021
On the magical thinking of the minority in the Zuma contempt of court judgement
The decision by the majority of South Africa’s Constitutional Court to sentence former President Jacob Zuma to prison term of […]
Quote of the week
A few months ago, author William Gumede described Zuma as someone with a narcissistic personality disorder — a set of traits defined by Austrian psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut as “including an exaggerated sense of superiority, a lack of self-awareness about the impact of their behaviour and having a disdain for others, who they devalue to validate their own grandiosity”. These people lack empathy, have a distorted sense of reality and are incapable of seeing anything from anyone else’s perspective. Narcissists like Zuma, Gumede argues, can’t accept responsibility and don’t care if they take down entire countries with them. The events at Nkandla, sadly for Zuma, only reinforced that perspective.
Financial Mail