Quote of the week
An ‘important purpose of section 34 [of the Constitution] is to guarantee the protection of the judicial process to persons who have disputes that can be resolved by law’ and that the right of access to court is ‘foundational to the stability of an orderly society. It ensures the peaceful, regulated and institutionalised mechanisms to resolve disputes, without resorting to self-help. The right of access to court is a bulwark against vigilantism, and the chaos and anarchy which it causes. Construed in this context of the rule of law and the principle against self-help in particular, access to court is indeed of cardinal importance’.The right guaranteed s34 would be rendered meaningless if court orders could be ignored with impunity:the underlying purposes of the right — and particularly that of avoidance of self-help — would be undermined if litigants could decide which orders they wished to obey and which they wished to ignore.
Victoria Park Ratepayers' Association v Greyvenouw CC and others (511/03) [2003] ZAECHC 19 (11 April 2003)
Quote
No one cares about issues of diversity facing black universities. No one cares what happens there and whether or not the throughput rates are increasing, whether or not targets are being met to produce qualified and competent doctors, engineers, scientists, nurses, and the other urgent skills required by our economy. No one asks whether or not the racial balance at the black universities has been met, or whether or not numeracy or academic levels have improved. Why is this debate not in the public realm? Unlike black universities, formerly white universities are under constant scrutiny for racial transformation . Many former white universities with black vice-chancellors have become no-go areas, the fiefdoms of those who stifle free debate and tyrannise those academics who dare to ask questions. Countless disciplinary procedures have been instituted against those who will not “toe the line” , at great legal cost to universities who need those monies for academic programmes. – Rhoda Kadalie in Business Day
