Quote of the week
Early in 2016, a racist outburst by a white woman in KwaZulu-Natal, Penny Sparrow, ridiculing Black beachgoers as ‘monkeys’, and announcing that thenceforth she would ‘address the [B]lacks of South Africa as monkeys’, published in her online profile, was quickly disseminated countrywide. It convulsed South Africa in shame and acrid anger. The [Constitutional] Court was not unaffected. Previous members of the Constitutional Court took comfort in reflecting, with evident satisfaction, on the absence of racially loaded and racially defined splits. Dramatically, these now fractured the Court.
"Rainbows and Realities: Justice Johan Froneman in the Explosive Terrain of Linguistic and Cultural Rights" - Constitutional Court Review
Public Protector acting in bad faith (again)
It is disturbing that Ms Mkhwebane did not respond personally to numerous accusations made attacking the integrity of her investigation. An explanation was undeniably called for and, as I have said, she was the only person who could respond to these accusations. The effect is that the allegations of bad faith, of failing to apply her mind and of acting with an ulterior motive remain uncontested. investigation of offences under POCA was not within her competence. Her failure to provide any explanation for her signing two different reports is disturbing and gives credence to the charge that she did not apply her mind to content.
