Quote of the week
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.
Secretary of the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture, Corruption and Fraud in the Public Sector including Organs of State v Zuma and Others (CCT 52/21) [2021] ZACC 18
Public hearings on Scorpions
I see public hearings will be held at Parliament on the 5, 6, & 7 August 2008 about the draft legislation that will be abolish the Scorpions. There will also be public hearings in the provinces from Monday 11 August to Friday, 15 August 2008.
It is clear that these hearings will aim to give effect to the recent Constitutional Court judgment in the Merafong case in which the Constitutional Court confirmed again that meaningful public participation was required when Parliament passed important legislation. Parliament will therefore have to manage this process very carefully to vaccinate the legislation against a constitutional challenge.
As the majority pointed out in the Merafong case – following previous precedent – meaningful participation did not require Parliament to follow the suggestions of the public, but merely that it had to be open to be persuaded by such submissions. What was required was for the public hearings not to be “a cynical charade”, but “held in good faith”. There must be “a possibility of change” in the position of the legislature.
There is no authority for the proposition that the views expressed by the public are binding on the legislature if they are in direct conflict with the policies of Government. Government certainly can be expected to be responsive to the needs and wishes of minorities or interest groups, but our constitutional system of government would not be able to function if the legislature were bound by these views. The public participation in the legislative process, which the Constitution envisages, is supposed to supplement and enhance the democratic nature of general elections and majority rule, not to conflict with or even overrule or veto them.
When public hearings are held on the abolition of the Scorpions Parliament will therefore have to listen to a wide range of opinions and if the ANC does its work, it will ensure that some of these opinions will support the abolition of the Scorpions and when they eventually pass the legislation it will be very difficult to challenge on the grounds that there was no meaningful public participation in the adoption of this legislation.
So, farewell Scorpions. Just another institution destroyed to serve the short-term political interest of what Xolela Mangcu calls the new fascists. The only way to deal with this kind of short-sighted and destructive arrogance on the part of the ruling party is to vote them out of office. But this will not happen next year because there is no credible party to vote for.
