There is an apparent endemic propensity and tendency on the part of all government ministers and other officials either to ignore court orders or treat them with a lack of enthusiasm and respect.
A serious accusation levelled against the government this week by Judge Bill Prinsloo in the Pretoria High Court when he granted leave to Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula to appeal against a ruling that he rebuild the shacks of a group of squatters in Moreleta Park, Pretoria, or face arrest.
Nqakula can now take his appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal, opposing a ruling by Prinsloo last month that found the minister to be in contempt of an earlier court order about the rebuilding of the shacks, and again giving him 12 hours to rebuild.
While the minister waged a battle in court this week, the shack dwellers still remained homeless, which led to Prinsloo ordering Nqakula yet again on Wednesday to rebuild their shacks before the end of the week. It was “distressing”, the judge said, that the order to rebuild had not been carried out — and that Nqakula’s defence was that it was “irrelevant”.
Nqakula’s counsel called on section three of the State Liability Act, saying it prohibited Nqakula from being committed to jail for contempt of court. The squatters, however, insisted that the Act did not place the minister or other government officials above the law.
And that argument brought Prinsloo neatly to his decision to refer the matter to the higher court, which will give better guidance on the accountability of high-ranking government officials in cases like these.
The eventual outcome of Nqakula’s appeal should be notable. In the meantime, here’s to hoping the Pretoria shack dwellers will have a dry place to sleep in the rainy summer months.
| FULL SPEED AHEAD |
NOT SO FAST |
Justin Kemp
Eighty-nine not out off 56 balls — a particularly fine performance by this South African cricketer that helped his team thrash New Zealand in the Twenty20 World Championship in Durban on Wednesday, the latter’s only defeat in the Super Eights. Proudly South African, indeed. |
 Robert Mugabe
Zimbabwe’s President says he is going to attend the European Union-Africa summit whether Britain’s Gordon Brown attends or not. It seems Mugabe is only interested in political point scoring, and there will little headway made at the summit in addressing the parlous state of affairs in Zimbabwe. |
Most-read stories
September 13 to 19
1. Revealed: Secret McBride tapes
Suspended Ekurhuleni metro police boss Robert McBride’s three main detractors are criminals who are involved in cash-in-transit heists, their lawyer says.
2. Experts fear huge quake coming in Indonesia
Powerful earthquakes struck Indonesia for a third day on Friday, terrorising thousands of people who were refusing to return to coastal homes in fear of tsunami and falling debris. Seismologists warned that the worst may be yet to come.
3. ‘ANC not in a state of crisis’
The winds of change are blowing in the ANC. On the sixth floor of Luthuli House, secretary general Kgalema Motlanthe has removed all the paintings and decorations from the walls as he prepares to leave his office in three months.
4. MK vets mobilise for Zuma
The Spear of the Nation — Umkhonto weSizwe — is emerging as a potent weapon in the battle for the hearts and minds of delegates to the ANC’s national conference in December. And the backing of MK veterans could be the ace up Jacob Zuma’s sleeve in his bid for the party presidency.
5. Crisis group says Zim close to collapse
Zimbabwe is “closer than ever to complete collapse” under the weight of a deepening economic crisis that threatens to destabilise Southern Africa, an independent report said on Tuesday.
6. Mugabe takes aim at Western media
President Robert Mugabe on Thursday fired a broadside at Western media for biased coverage of events in Zimbabwe, ignoring an adultery case involving his staunch opponent, former archbishop Pius Ncube.
7. Mbeki: Crime a symptom of ‘rapacious individualism’
The prevalence of corruption and other forms of crime in South Africa reflected a society that had embraced a culture of individualism, President Thabo Mbeki said on Wednesday.
Joint 8. Knives out for Cosatu president Madisha
A band of top unionists is planning to press for Thabo Mbeki’s inclusion in the Congress of South African Trade Unions’s (Cosatu) list of favoured ANC leaders at next week’s central committee meeing. But the knives appear to be out for one of its key members, Cosatu president Willie Madisha.
Joint 8. Court told of ANC ‘counter-revolution’
Former director general of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) Billy Masetlha has implicated Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils in a “counter-revolution” meant to destroy the African National Congress (ANC).
9. Pets slaughtered in meat-starved Zim
Pets are being slaughtered for meat in shortage-stricken Zimbabwe and record numbers of animals have been surrendered to shelters or abandoned by owners no longer able to feed them, according to animal welfare groups.
10. ‘Dead’ man wakes up under autopsy knife
A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.