Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. (Simon Sonnekus)
Hugh Corder examines what considerations must be taken when appointing a news Chief Justice when Mogoeng Mogoeng s term ends in September.
By October, South Africa’s Chief Justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, will have finished his 12-year term at the helm of the Constitutional Court. How will his successor be selected, and what qualities are needed by the holder of this high office?
To answer these questions we need to understand the context. This is because the country’s judiciary has been increasingly drawn into party political wrangling and contestation.
Any form of constitutional democracy which allows judicial review of the exercise of public power thrusts the courts into the political limelight. Inevitably, acts and decisions of parliament, the president and cabinet will be challenged against the constitutional framework. The superior courts of the country provide the forum in which this plays out.
Cancer of corruption must be treated now - Paul Hoffman biznews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from biznews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
There is one area of reform that is critical to the future trajectory of the country, its economy and the wellbeing of all who dwell in this lovely land. Reform is most urgently needed in the Jacob Zuma-blighted criminal justice administration in our nascent constitutional democracy, a new form of government for South Africa embraced by the majority of voters in 1994.
The current criminal justice administration, by the admission of its leadership, has been hollowed out, compromised, filled with “saboteurs” and rendered dysfunctional due to the ravages of the Zuma-era State Capture project. The innards of that project are currently being revealed in detail and shock by the evidence meticulously presented before the State Capture Commission presided over by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
LIVE FEED: State Capture Inquiry - February 18, 2021
By IOL Reporter, Siviwe Feketha
Feb 18, 2021
Johannesburg - The Zondo commission will hear Parliamentary Oversight-related evidence on Thursday.
Executive Secretary of Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (Casac), Lawson Naidoo is expected to take the stand.
The commission will also hear evidence from Professor Emeritus of Public Law University of Cape Town, Professor Hugh Corder, Parliamentary Monitor of Parliamentary Monitoring Group, Jennifer Rault-Smith and the Director of Corruption Watch David Lewis.
This week was set aside for former president Jacob Zuma’s appearance but he informed the commission on Monday through his lawyer that that he would defy a Constitutional Court summons which compelled him to attend.
State of Corruption: Commission weighs up the failure o dailymaverick.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailymaverick.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.