By Paul Hoffman The full quote from which the headline above is taken reads: “Justice is not a luxury, it is something we need like air and clean water”. The author of the quote is Vera Jourova, a Czech lawyer and politician, who until 2024 was the European Commission...

By Paul Hoffman The end of the Scorpions marked the beginning of the State Capture project undertaken during the two Jacob Zuma presidencies. No one today seriously regards the Hawks as any part of the solution to the challenges of grand corruption. The scourge of...

Paul Hoffman Janet Jobson is a “merchant of hope”. She has to be because she heads up the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. She has brought the concept of “BANI” into the national discourse, and not a moment too soon either. Google reveals the meaning of the...

  Paul Hoffman The ANC, still the largest party in Parliament but no longer in the majority, has stated publicly that it needs to renew, or it will perish. It has learnt well from its predecessor in government, the National Party, which adopted a similar slogan...

Under the Constitution SA has a single national prosecuting authority (NPA) led by a National Director appointed by the president, with Directors of Public Prosecutions for all provinces and, at the bottom of the organisation, legions of prosecutors. According to...

By Paul Hoffman  The collective responsibility and accountability of the multi-party Cabinet of the GNU does not derive from the ANC’s notion of democratic centralism. It derives from the Constitution, our supreme law. There seems to be a good prospect of the fracas...

Civil society will litigate to invalidate any change that violates the founding document The talk of a “reset” for the 10-party coalition that has governed in SA since the election in May 2024 has to be seen within the context of the constitution, which prescribes...

By Paul Hoffman The ANC’s desire for hegemony and the corrupt ways of many in its leadership have left the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in tatters, especially after it was gutted during the heyday of the State Capture period. Under the Constitution, South...

07 April 2025 - 17:29 In all the wholly unnecessary fuss around the spat over a 0.5 percentage point hike in VAT, politicians have lost sight of the constitutional responsibilities of the cabinet. All in cabinet are “accountable collectively and individually to...

Paul Hoffman | 03 April 2025 Paul Hoffman says if compulsory mediation is legislated in SA, parliament must insist all mediators be qualified independent professionals Farriers are the folk who shoe horses. The demand for their services dwindled sharply when the...

By Paul Hoffman There is currently some R89bn swilling around in the financial services sector that is unclaimed. It emerged during the interview that there is currently a pool, or more accurately pools, aggregating some R89-billion swilling around in the financial...

Many South Africans appear not to be too careful about their money. According to media reports sourced from Erica Liebenberg of Just Money, there is a pool of R89bn swilling around in the financial services sector that is unclaimed by those who are entitled to claim...

Former SA ambassador was bound to be expelled after badmouthing the US When the new SA was born some three decades ago “we the people” declared our intent to “build a united and democratic SA able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of...

Federation deputy president says changing NHI legislation would be unconstitutional You reported a grievous misapprehension by union federation Cosatu as to the meaning and import of the concept “unconstitutionality” (“Cosatu urges Ramaphosa not to negotiate sections...

The president does not get to choose whether to follow the rule of law, he takes an oath to do so In an otherwise insightful piece, Jonny Steinberg poses the wrong question when he asks, “Does he [President Cyril Ramaphosa] really want an efficient justice system if...