Zondo Commission into state capture to start hearings today
The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture officially begins on Monday. For the first time, former president Jacob Zuma at some point is expected to give proper answers about his involvement in state capture. The commission is tasked with unravelling the full extent of corruption at state organs and allegations that Zuma […]
LETTER: No exceptions for judge
Karyn Maughan was quite right to exhort the judiciary and Judicial Service Commission not to bend the rules for Teflon-coated Cape Judge President John Hlophe (Zuma’s shadow looms over judicial failure to resolve Hlophe saga, July 5). He seemingly faces endless complaints of serious misconduct, in effect attempting to defeat the ends of justice, laid […]
Neglecting basic education at our own peril
The problem is not availability of resources, it is the lack of political will to make basic education available to all that is actually at the root of the malaise in our basic education system. Human rights warrior, Mark Heywood, ends his heartfelt plea for better basic education with a question: “This (basic education) is […]
The legitimacy of the SA judiciary in 2018
In our constitutional dispensation the judiciary is enjoined to serve “without fear, favour or prejudice” in the impartial adjudication of disputes brought to it by litigants. The legitimacy of any judiciary anywhere in the world is the essence of the rule of law. Without a judiciary that enjoys the confidence of the citizens it serves, […]
The Justice John Hlophe Inquiry Papers: Going nowhere fast
Judge Hlophe can still, at least partially, redeem himself by taking the honourable route of figuratively falling on his sword. In this way he will spare himself, his friends, colleagues and the entire Bench much anguish and embarrassment in the future. If he chooses not to resign and to soldier on, he should rest assured […]
Confiscation of white-owned land is illegal and unconstitutional
It is time to take off the gloves and get to grips with the inwardness of the debate, the parliamentary process and the announcement by the president of the ANC regarding the proposed amendment of Section 25 of the Constitution, the property clause. The very notion of “expropriation without compensation” or EWC is problematic. Confiscation […]
The role of accountability in our constitutional democracy
It is a sad reflection on the state of affairs in South Africa today that the leader of the Opposition has to put pen to paper, or at least speech writer to laptop, to extol the virtues of accountability. Mmusi Maimane has likened accountability to the baking powder that makes the cake of good governance […]
The Madiba centenary – midday at Healdtown college
While Thabo Mbeki was turning the first sod at a new hotel in ultra-posh Houghton at the home in which Nelson Mandela lived between 1992 and 1998, others were going about their daily business in the rural Eastern Cape without the slightest sign that on the occasion of the centenary of Mandela’s birth they could […]
Right of Reply to a Right of Reply: Riah Phiyega, SAPS cannot be led by a cadre carrying a line of unearned medals on her chest
Riah Phiyega, former and disgraced National Commissioner of Police, has challenged the veracity of a sentence in my critique of the SCA judgment in the Jiba and Mrwebi appeals. I commented: ‘Of his (i.e. Zuma’s) second choice, Riah Phiyega of Marikana mendacity infamy, the less said the better.’ I have been asked by her, in […]
OPINION | Jiba, Mrwebi SCA judgment – no need for panic just yet
The ruling this week by the Supreme Court of Appeals that overturned a High Court decision striking two Zuma-loyalists and NPA honchos off the roll of advocates may have been entirely predictable – but it is not a train smash. Careful research by Daily Maverick investigative reporter Marianne Thamm shows that two of the three […]
