FRONTAL ASSAULT ON JUDICIARY BY ANC

25 June 2015

Gwede Manthashe is the new PW Botha. Gone are the pretensions of living up to the Constitution as the supreme law. There is now a frontal assault on the judiciary by the renegade ruling party.

Mantashe’s comments that Judge Mlambo did not realize the serious implications of his ruling on the Al-Bashir matter, is condescending, uninformed and malicious. He and other ANC cadres are threatening that a clash is looming between the Judiciary and Executive. His contention that the arrest of Al-Bashir was tantamount to declaring war against Sudan is utter nonsense.

There was a time when South Africa promoted the African Renaissance and placed great store by its reputational and diplomatic capital. We were part of a new Africa of hope, democracy and international solidarity. We then stood for values, not expediency. 

The sooner Manthashe recognises the supremacy of the Constitution the better for him and his party. The way it is going, the ruling party is about to plunge our country into a constitutional as well as an economic crisis of great magnitude. Instead of governing under the Constitution, the ANC wants to impose dictatorial rule over the people and assert primacy in society. The ANC wants to rule unfettered and free of the Constitution.

Our courts are there to uphold the rule of law. They do not exist either to please or placate any politician or any political party.

Manthashe forgets that the Freedom Charter had equality before the law as a principal proposition for a free South Africa. He cannot pick and choose what he likes in court judgments and condemn what he doesn’t like.

Judge President Dunstan Mlambo made it clear that “A democratic state, based on the rule of law, cannot exist or function if the government ignores its constitutional obligations and fails to abide by court orders. A court is the guardian of justice, the corner-stone of a democratic system based on the rule of law. If the State, an organ of State or a state official does not abide by court orders, the democratic edifice will crumble stone-by-stone until it collapses and chaos ensues.” This is what it is.

Of course Mantashe does not understand this. He is becoming an enemy of the Constitution and therefore a menace to our society.

COPE is eagerly looking forward to action from the NPA. The new boss begins life with the steepest of challenges. He will have to rise up to it or ignobly retreat from it.

Statement issued by Dennis Bloem, COPE spokesperson, June 25 2015