Quote of the week
Regard must be had to the higher standard of conduct expected from public officials, and the number of falsehoods that have been put forward by the Public Protector in the course of the litigation. This conduct included the numerous “misstatements”, like misrepresenting, under oath, her reliance on evidence of economic experts in drawing up the report, failing to provide a complete record, ordered and indexed, so that the contents thereof could be determined, failing to disclose material meetings and then obfuscating the reasons for them and the reasons why they had not been previously disclosed, and generally failing to provide the court with a frank and candid account of her conduct in preparing the report. The punitive aspect of the costs order therefore stands.
Public Protector v South African Reserve Bank (CCT107/18) [2019] ZACC 29 (22 July 2019)
Rather Bloemfontein than Braamfontein….
Bloemfontein, with only 20 burglaries per 10 000 residents, was voted the best city in South Africa for men. Pietermaritzburg was rated second, Johannesburg third, Pretoria fourth, Cape Town fifth, East London sixth and Durban seventh.
It is not clear from the news reports whether cities were also judged on the intellectual stimulation available and the commitment of its inhabitants to constitutional transformation. Given the fact that Bloemfontein came out tops, I would be surprised if they were.
To be fair, using the latter criteria I am not sure that Cape Town would have done better than its 5th position either. O well, at least we have the mountian and the ocean while Bloemfontein has the Vrouemonument.
