Piccolo Teatro

Rule by the Judiciary

The White Inc is setting our country on a dangerous course. They seem to want to reduce our democracy into a form of a kritarchy. This, they do by taking every government decision they don’t agree with to court. They are trying to govern the country by judicial proxy.

We have seen an increasing number of government decisions being challenged in courts right up to the constitutional court. Some really do have merit I must admit. Most of them though, are simply a determined and a well orchestrated attempt at undermining a democratically elected government. We once saw a court challenge against a bill that was still to go before parliament. The bill to dissolve the Scorpions (I am not arguing on the merits of whether the scorpions should have been dissolved or not) went through the committee stage after a vigorous fight by the opposition who were outvoted. Before the bill went in front of parliament for debate, a court challenge was mounted seeking to prevent parliament from even debating it and also interdicting the president from signing it into law. What a pervesion of our democracy!

A bill is exactly that! A bill! Everyone knows what the legislative process entails. After all the lobbying, the debates and the concessions, it comes down to a vote. So why do you want to challenge the end result before the process is finished. At least have enough respect for the democratic process and the people. In the Scorpions case, the Constitutional Court rightfully ruled that it had no powers over what is debated in parliament or what laws are passed in parliament as this is tantamount to one state organ interfering in the work of another. A law has to be passed first before you can challenge it’s constitutionality. (A clause in the law itself after it was passed was eventually found by the Constitutional Court to be unconstitutional and referred back to parliament)

This however, has not stopped the ever resourceful White Inc from threatening the same kind of court challenge with regards to the Protection of Information Bill. This smacks of the tactics employed at Codesa when FW de Klerk and the Nats, supported by other white groupings tried to sneak in a close that would have given the white minority veto powers in parliament.

Each time they don’t get their way on a political matter they threaten court challenge. It is disgusting that whenever they lose a debate in parliament due to the ruling party’s majority we hear comments in the media like, “the ANC bulldozes bill through” or “ANC uses it’s majority to steamroll bill though parliament”. This makes as if it is wrong for a majority party to take advantage of it’s majority. Isn’t this the very essence of Democracy?

The White Inc has been stalling with transformation in various sectors of society and the Judiciary is where they have succeeded the most, in my view. There too few black Silks and the reason is that the recommendation is based on a buddy system within the various Bar Councils to which the White Inc has held a firm grip. This has resulted in too few black lawyers being ready for appointments to the bench and the bench being left with much of the old guard sympathetic to the white course.

White Inc should cease to try and reinvent the rule each time they fail to lobby and influence during the legislative process. They need to respect the fact that the President of the Republic has executive authority and it doesn’t matter who the person of the President is. The fact that they hateZuma so much doesn’t mean undermining the highest office in the land. Zuma isn’t that office, he just occupies it.

This sets the country on a very dangerous course in that the general South African publicstart viewing the judiciary with suspicion and confidence in it drops. They start resenting everything white, which is wrong.

The opposition need to take their rightful place as the defenders of the constitution and our people instead of being the defenders of white privilege.

The ruling party, on the other hand, needs to take consultative processes seriously and view them as a change to get another point of view. Yes, they have the majority but the purpose of a parliamentary system is so that you can get views from everyone and consider them before making decisions.

This will save us from the anarchy and paralysis of the state we are currently headed for. The constant and meaningless court challenges are hardening the attitudes of the ruling party and the general public towards bot the White Inc and white people in general. We do not need a back door rule by the judiciary standing proxy for the White Inc.

6 responses to “Rule by the Judiciary”

  1. ximba Avatar
    ximba

    U seem to grasped what your ordinary black people certainly those I interact with feel and think. This leads to a situation where if the white opposition say anything we just close our ears. They need to know one thing when they do not give the ANC legitimate space to govern, when things fall apart the ANC will say to the masses we tried our best u know they have been creating stumbling blocks all the way. When the masses rise it is not only the ruling elite that stands to loose but those that benefited from apartheid stands to loose everything. They must not think they will go overseas. They have their problems there as well.

  2. Ntshingila Avatar
    Ntshingila

    In the eyes of our feloow countrymen its only democracy if and when they get their way.

    It’s time we exposed the truth behind this reality. Well played.

  3. Tony Harding Avatar

    Did you read Nomalanga Mkhize’s CP article on the ‘liberal consensus’? It was very balanced – even though Ramatlhodi may have taken some credit for parts of it! Lol.

    We need to face the issue of how civil society is constituted, and whether highly funded lobbies have an exclusive claim to represent our society demographically.

    I don’t think they do, and it is a valid point that a CJ should be able to assess the issues of representivity (spelling?) when matters are brought before the court in the ‘public interest’.

    I can understand the issue of government feeling that it appears that it being forced into accountability to lobby groups, not wider society.

    I have no problem with constitutional challenges per se, but think that there may be a case for a heavier burden to be placed on claims to representivity. We have a number of careerist NGOs, which attempt to shape the public narrative.

    Again, I am being a heretic, but there are sometimes political prerogatives which need to be exercised to head off risks to the political stability of the country.

    These include difficult decisions about prioritisation of spending. Education must be an area of concern, particularly where NGOs focus on the ‘demand’ side and not the ‘supply’ side of the problems. There are many other examples.

    In this sense, some lobbying is plainly opportunistic, not much different from the Ancyl.

    I am sure government, particularly those with a sense of their responsibilities, are being made to focus their minds by a sense of imminent crisis (that may well result in the state being unable to function coherently). Of course, the corruption in the ANC has brought it close to collapse, as we have seen in the last weeks.

    We may well be moving into a difficult phase where the state will challenge ‘civil society’ to put up or shut up. This could be in the form of militarisation a la Cele, but it should be clear to all now that Malema can lead the country into a civil war, or deep, spiralling instability. I know senior ANC people who have expressed this concern for years, and we are sadly blind to the risks.

    My point. I think that special pleading by the liberal consensus may dangerous in the sense that it is insensitive to the wider political risks. It is narcissistic.

    I think we need to declare our crisis as a society openly, but I regret deeply that the ANC is no longer a voice of authority.

    The ANC knows this, but is going into denial or defensive mode, not creating space for engagement. If there is to be engagement, the issue of representivity in civil society will be key.

    Just some thoughts.

  4. Bouga Avatar
    Bouga

    I get your point but I sometimes feel the ruling party leaves itself too open for critical scrutiny. Somethings could be easily avoided with a little effort and thought.

    I think their biggest downfall is communication or effective communication. If they gonna leave the opposition to breakdown what it is they are trying to do or leave it to Malema who is not the most tactful of people and I’m being modest, than they can’t be surprised when they are being dhot down at every move.

    Until until they start using their branches effectively,

  5. Bouga Avatar
    Bouga

    I get your point but I sometimes feel the ruling party leaves itself too open for critical scrutiny. Somethings could be easily avoided with a little effort and thought.

    I think their biggest downfall is communication or effective communication. If they gonna leave the opposition to breakdown what it is they are trying to do or leave it to Malema who is not the most tactful of people and I’m being modest, than they can’t be surprised when they are being shot down at every move.

    Until they start using their branches effectively,

  6. Mlu Gwacela Avatar

    I concure in your sentiments mfana, It makes a lot of sense. I hope the White Inc is reading these blogs. Are you sending them to Madam Hellen bro?

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