Quote of the week
[T]he moral point of the matter is never reached by calling what happened by the name of ‘genocide’ or by counting the many millions of victims: extermination of whole peoples had happened before in antiquity, as well as in modern colonization. It is reached only when we realize this happened within the frame of a legal order and that the cornerstone of this ‘new law’ consisted of the command ‘Thou shall kill,’ not thy enemy but innocent people who were not even potentially dangerous, and not for any reason of necessity but, on the contrary, even against all military and other utilitarian calculations. … And these deeds were not committed by outlaws, monsters, or raving sadists, but by the most respected members of respectable society.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil
Casac statement on Menzi Simelane ruling of SCA
01 December 2011
CASAC notes that the SCA has affirmed the constitutional duty on the President to appoint a fit and proper person to the office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). The Ginwala Enquiry made adverse comments about the character of Adv Simelane, which the President should have taken into account in considering Adv Simelane’s fitness for office.
The National Prosecuting Authority is a critical organ of state and its integrity and independence should be beyond reproach to ensure public confidence in its ability to act without fear, favour or prejudice.
We trust that the President will now initiate a process that will lead to the appointment of suitable person as the head of the National Prosecuting Authority to restore confidence in this section of the justice system. The judgment of the SCA confirms that the President must exercise his discretion in line with his constitutional obligations.
Ends
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