Dear Sir,
Our recent history tells us that the ruling party, the ANC, are trying really hard to get control of the judicial process.
South African Justice Ministry have been going to great lengths, for some time and with considerable energy to take over certain administrative functions which are currently the responsibility of the (independent) judiciary - for example, the appointment of judges to upcoming court cases. Currently, there is a rotating roster which automatically allocates judges to cases. As things currently stand, therefore, no one decides who the judge will be in a particular case, as the judge is allocated to a case according to whose turn it is next as per the roster. For very valid reasons, that is how it should continue! Imagine the potential for mayhem if the ruling party, corporate businesses or wealthy individuals were able, by monetary, or other means, to manipulate the situation, i.e. to have a hand in choosing the Judge for cases where they have vested interests. So far, thank heavens, this particular initiative by the Justice Ministry has failed. They (the Justice Ministry) are also currently trying to take over the functions of regional Bar Societies. Bar Societies are free-standing, regional bodies, comprising private individuals who are advocates, attorneys, etc. Comments have come from the legal fraternity that, if the Justice Ministry is successful in this regard, lawyers will not be able to conduct their business as they normally do, “and may as well pack their bags and leave South Africa”.
Our recent history is replete with cases against senior members of the Government /Parastatals /civil service (all of which are ANC deployees’ happy hunting grounds), examples of disastrously poor levels of governance, failure to account for unaccounted for money in the scale billions (this is now happening across the board in our government ministries, as well as corruption at all levels. Figures produced by an independent investigation into the Department of Health of the Eastern Cape found that 122 of 200 employees were ‘doing business’ through companies set up in the names of their family members. R1.4billion, or 40% of the annual budget, had been paid to these bogus companies, very often for zero service delivery, i.e. the transaction was totally fictional apart from the money paid (bare-faced theft !).
The big corporates have also come under the legal spotlight for things such as operating as cartels of companies (cell phone service providers), price fixing (the food industry). The banks have been accused of extortionate, and sometimes illegal levying of charges on customer bank accounts). All of the foregoing occurs at huge cost to the South African populace, the ordinary folk.
An independent judiciary is recognised as one of the pillars of our society, without which there is no genuine democracy. In all the forgoing examples, the last line of defence, the only recourse the people have to bring fair play, justice and accountability into our national life is the route that an independent judiciary represents.
In the same vein, the reason why our government has tried several ploys to exert greater control over the legal system is that it cannot afford an independent judiciary. The effect of their notable failures in governance, the level of rampant corruption, and hugely extravagant spending within the civil service and our bloated, self-important politicians, is to drastically reduce /negate the administration’s ability to deliver basic services. The other effect that is coming through more clearly with each passing day, is the ever-increasing level of revenue that the government /quasi-government bodies are extracting (electricity, water, roads, etc., etc.), incrementally and ongoing, wherever they feel they can get away with it. The Eskom story is a classic (bad decision-making by Thabo Mbeki, followed by disastrous consequences for our power grid), but there are stories of disastrous consequences across the gamut of departments and ministries. Many businesses have already closed because of unaffordable power levies. Continental Tyre manufacturers in Port Elizabeth (they made 10.5 million tyres last year) have stated that the high costs of docking of ships (Transnet’s Ports and Harbours) and electricity (Eskom) mean that manufacturing costs in other African countries are now significantly less than in South Africa. Because of the Ministry of Fisheries have been tardy with producing the long-awaited survey of hake stocks in the oceans around our shores (which will provide the evidence to enforce essential restrictions on Japanese and Russian factory ships), our R3 billion fishing industry (which employs 9 000 people) is in danger of collapsing completely - entire communities in our coastal villages will suffer economic collapse. The industrial and commercial hub that Coega was intended to become remains virtually still-born due to Eskom’s failure to provide reliable and cost-effective electricity to the proposed aluminium smelter business that was to be its heart beat. At the last minute, the business people who were lined up and committed to the project pulled out as the debacle that Eskom has become began to unfold before their eyes. Many thousands of potential jobs and the hugely promising potential of Coega disappeared into thin air. Looking out of the airliner window as we flew over Nelson Mandela Bay, I saw Coega Harbour on that beautiful coastline - my heart sank into my boots - there it lay, empty and still, bearing stark witness to our venal, ineffective, self-serving, corrupt ANC-led government.
Our national parliament, provincial parliaments and metro/local councils are failing the South African people in terms of service delivery, governance and using the money for the benefit of our country and our people. The abysmal track record and of nineteen years and rampant corruption in government is now there for all to see. The ruling party is riding roughshod over the political opposition in parliament – they have loaded parliamentary accountability committees with key appointees to ensure such committees are no real threat to them. International democratic parliamentary practice is that members of parliamentary opposition parties chair accountability committees. Our government has chosen to ignore this totally. Our parliamentary system is failing us in front of our very eyes. It has become a plaything in the hands of the ruling party who have laughed off historic procedure and protocol to sidestep accountability.
An unavoidable truism of which I become more aware, day by day, is that our government’s failure to deliver is increasingly at the cost of our South African people. In many cases, our Constitution’s stipulations regarding basic rights that South Africans have are being abrogated by the ANC government. Everyone is asking “what can be done about it ?”. Mamphela Ramphele is saying to us all “get involved as individuals - form yourselves into groups of individuals of (‘say 10 people’), discuss the problems we are facing, come up with ideas “, etc. This is all well and good, but what can people actually do to change the way our country is being run into the ground on all fronts ?
I do believe that our under-threat but still-independent justice system offers the most effective route to change and accountability. Affordability is the problem. Where an individual or group of people have a valid grievance, the main stumbling block is that, invariably, if not always, the costs of going the legal route are prohibitive and way beyond the means of the citizenry.
To this end, I would like all concerned fellow South Africans to consider the following: every concerned individual who sees the merit in, and who can afford it, should consider contributing financially (a small monthly debit order from enough people is sufficient) to fund an apolitical body, the goal of which would be to bring accountability into situations which we know are hugely deserving, or critical to the future stability and good governance of our country. The approach should be to give priority to those causes which would benefit those most needy in society, whose basic rights under the constitution are being abrogated in the most callous manner.
The apolitical body should be non-profit making. It would be totally transparent in terms of its objectives and finances. Recourse would be taken through the courts on cases carefully chosen according to aforementioned criteria, by the best legal brains obtainable /affordable, who would be contracted in to decide on ‘best strategy’ for the legal action to get the best result for the people of South Africa.
I feel certain that many fellow South Africans, comprising the full spectrum of our rainbow nation, feel as I do – deeply disappointed at what is happening in our national life, seriously worried about the future for our children and their children, but most of all with a deep desire to get back onto the high road and rekindle a vision of good outcomes for South Africa, a country which I believe in my spirit has a significant part to play as a positive role model in a dysfunctional world beset by serious problems.
This apolitical initiative, i.e. using the courts to bring back accountability and enforce the basic rights of the South African people (which the government are riding roughshod over), would be a most worthy cause - it is also one that we cannot fail to embark upon and, on an ongoing basis, pursue to successful conclusions. The consequences of failure are dire indeed. We did not ask for, nor do we deserve these consequences. It is enough, already !!
Sandy Johnston
Rivonia
Johannesburg
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