The Pikoli affair and the constitution: James Myburgh

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http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politicsweb/view/politicsweb/en/page71619?oid=83619&sn=Detail
President Thabo Mbeki's suspension of Vusi Pikoli as national director of public prosecutions (NDPP) - apparently in an effort to prevent the prosecution of his chief of police, Jackie Selebi - has been widely interpreted as an assault on the constitution. This is most certainly true, at a profound level.
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On May 3 1998 the Sunday Times reported that the ANC's secretary-general, Kgalema Motlanthe, had announced that the party "would review the power held by independent watchdogs if it won a two-thirds majority in the coming election." According to the article Motlanthe had said that such a majority would "enable the ANC to form a government ‘unfettered by constraints'. Among the institutions the ANC wants to review are the Judicial Service Commission, which advises the President on the appointment of judges, the auditor general, the attorney general and the Reserve Bank."

In the event there was no need to change the constitution as the ANC were able to get their way through a combination of cadre deployment and democratic centralism. Party loyalists were placed in key positions and they were expected to implement the will of, and remain answerable to, the ANC.
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Looking back, it is striking how all the predictions made in the mid-1990s of the dangers of centralising and politicising the office of the attorneys-general have now come to pass. The decision to prosecute Zuma was interpreted within the ANC as a deeply political one, despite all the protestations to the contrary by the presidency. This was both because the NDPP was understood to be a political appointee, and because Zuma and his supporters saw that those "more guilty" of corruption were being shielded. Moreover, when Pikoli took the principled decision to press charges against Selebi; Mbeki succumbed to the temptation to intervene to protect his political ally. The point really is that if section 179 was not actually designed to protect the independence of the prosecution authority. And this weakness in the constitution has certainly facilitated the abuse of power that the country has witnessed over the past few weeks.
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Yeah, this is very, very disturbing. It really is getting harder and harder to stay positive about the direction this country is taking.
 
That is unfortunately way too true... :(

This country has so much promise, and right now the ANC and esp T-bone are pissing it away.
 
Like I said, the constitution is ink on paper. It doesn't enforce itself, its the governments job to enforce the constitution and laws.
And guess who controls the government.
 
Vote for the opposition. I hear so many people saying they are not voting anymore because it is no use, but this is simply not true. I have no problem with who the government of the day is just as long as they do a good job and i feel ours is seriously lacking at the moment. No one is above the law and now we know why the police commissioner was so arrogant about the arrest warrant not being issued. I would also be arrogant if i had the president of the country on my side.
 
Ady said:
Vote for the opposition. I hear so many people saying they are not voting anymore because it is no use, but this is simply not true. I have no problem with who the government of the day is just as long as they do a good job and i feel ours is seriously lacking at the moment. No one is above the law and now we know why the police commissioner was so arrogant about the arrest warrant not being issued. I would also be arrogant if i had the president of the country on my side.
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Ditto. Just simply don't give them the majority.

For every educated and sensible person to withhold from voting, is just decreasing the voting pool and giving the ANC an easier time of it. The more votes go for opposition parties the less that go the ANC and thus less power. Simple as that.
 
sox63 said:
Ditto. Just simply don't give them the majority.

For every educated and sensible person to withhold from voting, is just decreasing the voting pool and giving the ANC an easier time of it. The more votes go for opposition parties the less that go the ANC and thus less power. Simple as that.
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Should you vote for an opposition party just for the sake of voting? Even if you do not agree with their ideals or support their positions?
 
Yeah I think so. Well in this situation at any rate. I myself would not vote for any of the current SA parties based on ther leaders, policies or behaviour. It's not so much a vote for party X, but a vote against party Y. Though it would be nice if you could have negative voting. So Vote a vote against Party Y would count as -1 to their total. Would kindof be a vote of "anyone but them".
 
icyrus said:
Should you vote for an opposition party just for the sake of voting? Even if you do not agree with their ideals or support their positions?
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I'm sure you could find a party that you agree with their policies on. What I was trying to bring across is the more people vote, the more the power is spread around. Who knows, with current voter dissatisfaction regarding service delivery, ANC might not get 2/3rds majority. They would still win IMO, but without the majority that we find uneasy at the moment.
 
icyrus said:
Should you vote for an opposition party just for the sake of voting? Even if you do not agree with their ideals or support their positions?
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Well I'm not going to answer your question directly, but consider this: if you do not vote then logically your vote is only an ethereal layer on top of the outcome. If the ANC get's 60%, then 60 % of your vote went for the ANC. Now if you're fine with that, then don't vote. Otherwise please vote.
 
Nogga Bump

Party before nation?

Some interesting insider info comments from about the only ANC MP (Ex) who I felt had any principle or scruples. Unfortunately he [-]was fired [/-]resigned when he was seen to be "not toeing the party line"

Is Frene Ginwala the appropriate person to chair the inquiry into the conduct of suspended National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli? Will she be impartial, or will she make findings that support President Thabo Mbeki’s controversial action regardless?
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I personally don't see how someone with no Justice experience can make a call on a matter that is clearly Justice specific.

Even more concerning is her track record regarding impartial decisions on issues which are going to be uncomfortable for the ANC
:(
 
All this doesn't matter really.

The DA is determined to fight this in court. The ANC can do what it likes, but it is HIGHLY unlikely that the courts will approve of the ANC's conduct in this matter. The ONLY way they are going to get what they want (in this regard) will be to try to amend the constitution.
 
chiskop said:
The DA withdrew their threat to challenge it in court.
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Unless they find a way to challenge the verdict after the fact, which they might be keeping quiet about now, letting the enquiry run its course. The whole affair just smacks of corruption and executive meddling, the only thing we can be grateful for is that the media can still report on it, although how long will that last for now that the govt has started threatening editors etc to protect an incompetent health minister?
 
Xarog said:
All this doesn't matter really.

The DA is determined to fight this in court. The ANC can do what it likes, but it is HIGHLY unlikely that the courts will approve of the ANC's conduct in this matter. The ONLY way they are going to get what they want (in this regard) will be to try to amend the constitution.
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I just heard the other day how the government are basically just ignoring court orders...
 
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