To understand why the ANC reacted with such vehemence to claims by former Eskom CEO, Andre de Ruyter, that senior ANC members were involved in monumental corruption at Eskom, one must take note of the fact that the State Capture Commission identified support for corruption within the ANC, the tendency of the party to protect its own interests
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Lawyer held in contempt of court: When legal practitioners behave badly, they undermine the legitimacy and effectiveness of the profession
A judgment that holds a lawyer in contempt of court has arrived at a time when one has to ask whether the legal profession is facing a crisis of legitimacy, aggravated by the unethical behaviour of a small number of members of the profession.
It is not that unusual to come across a high court…
The DA’s flip-flopping on Eskom State of Disaster is embarrassing, and their new plan is legally fraught
The DA declared its support for the declaration of a State of Disaster to deal with the Eskom crisis as far back as May last year — only to turn around and reject it when President Cyril Ramaphosa embraced their idea.
Thanks to well-timed rolling blackouts in the Cederberg, I was spared having to watch…
The mooted National State of Disaster – ANC desperation or cynical public relations exercise?
News that the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC has urged the ANC government to declare a National State of Disaster to address the energy crisis (a crisis created by the self-same ANC government) has – predictably – been met with extreme scepticism and even outrage.
While there are good reasons to be sceptical…
ANC cadre deployment will be stopped at the ballot box, not via the courts
It is clear that some forms of cadre deployment are unconstitutional and invalid, and that carefully targeted court action challenging specific instances of such deployments may well be successful. But even this won’t solve South Africa’s endemic governance problems.
Last week the Gauteng High Court heard arguments in the DA’s case challenging the constitutionality of…
Zuma’s private prosecution of Ramaphosa raises red flags about abuse of judicial process
The attempt by Jacob Zuma to privately prosecute Cyril Ramaphosa for failing to interfere in an internal National Prosecuting Authority matter raises broader questions about the potential abuse of private prosecutions by politically powerful or wealthy individuals.
As former president Jacob Zuma and his supporters have often pointed out, a decision to charge and prosecute…
Flawed report gives ANC MPs an alibi to vote against impeachment. But there are other ways to hold Ramaphosa accountable
On Tuesday 13 December 2022 members of the National Assembly will vote on whether to proceed with a full inquiry into the possible impeachment of President Cyril Ramaphosa. Because the ANC occupies 230 of the 400 seats in the NA, the vote is likely to favour Ramaphosa.
ANC MPs have a long and lamentable history…
Ramaphosa should jump at the chance to clear his name before an impeachment inquiry — if he has nothing to hide
The report of the independent section 89 panel on whether sufficient evidence exists to warrant a full inquiry by an ad hoc committee of the National Assembly into whether President Cyril Ramaphosa committed serious violations of the Constitution or the law, or is guilty of serious misconduct, contains devastating ‘findings’ against the President. While there…
Jacob Zuma may have to serve at least another two months behind bars before being considered for parole
It should have come as no surprise that the Supreme Court of Appeal earlier this week confirmed that the granting of medical parole to former president Jacob Zuma by the erstwhile Commissioner of Correctional Services, Arthur Fraser, was unlawful and invalid because Zuma did not meet the medical criteria for the granting of this kind…
Slapp suit judgment paves way to shutting the door on Stalingrad tactics
The Constitutional Court judgment on Slapp suits reminds us that there may be ways to curtail the practice whereby well-resourced political actors implicated in corruption and other unlawful or unethical behaviour (often abetted by ethically tainted lawyers) make use of the ‘Stalingrad strategy’ to delay or even completely avoid accountability for their actions.
When individuals…