Mr Zuma is no ordinary litigant. He is the former President of the Republic, who remains a public figure and continues to wield significant political influence, while acting as an example to his supporters… He has a great deal of power to incite others to similarly defy court orders because his actions and any consequences, or lack thereof, are being closely observed by the public. If his conduct is met with impunity, he will do significant damage to the rule of law. As this Court noted in Mamabolo, “[n]o one familiar with our history can be unaware of the very special need to preserve the integrity of the rule of law”. Mr Zuma is subject to the laws of the Republic. No person enjoys exclusion or exemption from the sovereignty of our laws… It would be antithetical to the value of accountability if those who once held high office are not bound by the law.
Idasa’s Democracy Index
Testing Democracy: Which way is South Africa going?
For electronic copy of index click here.
This report from the Institute for Democracy in South Africa (Idasa) suggests that South African democracy is developing slowly, stagnating in many areas and actually regressing in others. South Africa scored 5,8 on a scale of ten. Idasa’s Democracy Index rates any score below five as unacceptable, and any score above eight as being “as close to the democratic ideal as possible”. To order hard copies of this publication, contact the co-editors: Neeta Mirsa-Dexter nmirsadexter@idasa.org.za Judith February jfebruary@idasa.org.za Tel: 021 467 7601