Re-appointing of the Chief justice

McSack

McSack

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Justice Minister Jeff Radebe on Tuesday praised Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo for "doing a bloody good job" and said the government would oppose an expected legal challenge to the extension of his term.
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Once again Jeff misses the point entirely when it comes to anything to do with the law or the courts
Irrespective of how much we really-really-really like Justice Ngcobo, independence of the judiciary and specific "rules" of our constitution in this regard are there for a reason.


hmmm... maybe this has something to do with it
Nine of the 10 judges of the Constitutional Court said warrants used in raids on Zuma and his lawyer were valid and the state could use seized documents in its prosecution of Zuma, the frontrunner to succeed President Thabo Mbeki next year. …
....
The Young Communist League aligned itself with the minority judgement of judge Sandile Ncgobo, saying it saw it as a "majoritarian view".
Ngcobo found that the state had not provided all the necessary information to a judge when asking for the warrants and had not shown that less intrusive measures could have been used to get the documents they wanted.

Ngcobo also expressed concern about searches being conducted Hulley’s offices. The majority judgement found that nobody had claimed privilege and that they were not unlawful, but ordered the removal of a “catch-all phrase” from that warrant saying anything could be taken which might have a bearing on the case.M&G Jul 2008
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Frankly I'm disgusted that Ncgobo is pulling a Ponting on himself. You know ... that horrible little man who refuses to leave the crease(even though he is clearly out and he knows it) until the umpire specifically gives him the finger. (Australia vs Pakistan March 2010 )
Surely as the CJ, he must know that the Prez extending his term like this is clearly unconstitutional and the fact that he is basking in the glory of being "the best chief justice around" (he is of course the only chief justice around so I don't really know what that means) seems even arrogant . Does he honestly believe that there is no-one else in the whole country who can do the job?
 
The issue as I understand it is not that Ncgobo is incompetent, too old or anything like that, it's that the president has re-appointed him instead of Parliament. Even the people raising the issue have stated that it's mostly due to the principal of the thing. Parliament has delegated that power to the president, and the argument is that action was not in keeping with the constitution.

Radebe may have missed the point (I don't think he actually has, he's just deliberately being obtuse) but you seem to have missed it as well. In the end, Ncgobo will still be re-appointed, the only question is who is authorised to do it.
 
Sec 176 of the Constitution :
“A Constitutional Court judge holds office for a non-renewable term of 12 years, or until he or she attains the age of 70, whichever occurs first, except where an Act of Parliament extends the term of office of a Constitutional Court judge.”
 
nexxus said:
The issue as I understand it is not that Ncgobo is incompetent, too old or anything like that, it's that the president has re-appointed him instead of Parliament. Even the people raising the issue have stated that it's mostly due to the principal of the thing. Parliament has delegated that power to the president, and the argument is that action was not in keeping with the constitution.

Radebe may have missed the point (I don't think he actually has, he's just deliberately being obtuse) but you seem to have missed it as well. In the end, Ncgobo will still be re-appointed, the only question is who is authorised to do it.
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This is exactly the point
... and considering that Ncgobo was the only "dissenting" judge on a ruling against the now- Prez, don't you think it's bit "convenient"?
 
And the point behind the quote was? Nexxus is quite correct in that he probably will be appointed Chief Justice yet again, but it cannot be by the president and Parliament cannot decide to give this power to him either. It must be voted.

Not really. I don't think they think that far ahead or down the line. Heck I doubt the ANC do much thinking at all. They just do.
 
Irrespective of whether he will be appointed in the correct way or not eventually... look at any comment from any constitutional expert and you will see that they all agree that the current extension of the term is unconstitutional. Doesn't this bother you?
Doesn't it bother you that there's a perception that no-one else in the country besides Ncgobo is eligible for this job?
Doesn't it bother you that the makulu judge in the country has not himself stepped forward to say that the extension is at least highly contentious , if not downright unconstitutional?

@ S7wede - why do you think it cannot be the president that extends this term? ... and don't you think it sets a dangerous precedent if we just let this one slide?
 
I think legally, it's a fairly important fight as it strives to keep the checks & balances (currently meaningless though they may be, there's very little difference between what Parliament will vote for & what the president wants) the constitution has laid out, in place. Geez, that's just an awful sentence isn't it? Ah well.

As far as our daily lives are concerned it means very little. I don't see Ncgobo as some maverick who's going to run riot over the constitution & to be honest if the ANC really wants something to happen, it will happen eventually since they can amend the constitution at their leisure anyway.
 
McSack said:
@ S7wede - why do you think it cannot be the president that extends this term? ... and don't you think it sets a dangerous precedent if we just let this one slide?
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The chief justice is a public officer and needs to be elected by parliament because they serve the public. The president does not serve the public interest more so than their own party.
 
@ Nex
Fair enough ... it just seems to me that every day we just let more and more slide without holding our public officials to account. Eventually each of the "meaning very little as far as our daily lives are concerned" are going to add up and bite us in the @rse
 
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