We report this week on the apparent rapprochement between President Jacob Zuma’s government and the judiciary marked by conciliatory words from Zuma himself, and from his Justice Minister, Jeff Radebe.
Their unequivocal professions of commitment to judicial independence and to respect for the role of the courts are overdue, but no less welcome for that.
We all travelled a rough road before the National Prosecuting Authority dropped charges against Zuma and there has been intense anxiety about the president’s plans for a set of institutions he has so long seemed at war with. It is a weary battle now and all concerned are looking for the way to the armistice table.
There have been some especially nasty moments along the way. Recall, for example, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe characterising judges late last year as ”counter-revolutionaries — poised to pounce” on Zuma.
Hark back a bit earlier to when then-ANC Youth League president Fikile Mbalula accused Durban High Court Judge Hilary Squires of being an ”apartheid-style” judge after he convicted former Zuma adviser Schabir Shaik of fraud and corruption.
And refresh your more recent memory of Zuma’s insistence that judges are not gods and his constitutionally illiterate suggestion that the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) institute reforms to remind them of it.
It is worth remembering that the ruling party said it did not believe Zuma could receive a fair hearing before any South African court — a sweeping statement that tarred all judges with the same brush.
We repeat that unpleasant litany because it was inevitably playing softly in the background as Zuma and Radebe charmed the same judges at their conference this week. It is a tune that is much easier to ignore amid handshakes and bonhomie when there is no high-profile politician facing charges before our courts.
The judges themselves, however, clearly felt that détente was genuinely in the air and that an opportunity has opened up to get the project of building a judicial system responsive to the demands of the Constitution back on track. That means focusing on access to courts and legal services, strengthening constitutional jurisprudence and ensuring that South Africans see on the Bench people who are responsive to their most urgent concerns and conditions of life.
There are two related tests of Zuma’s and Radebe’s sincerity in the offing. The first is Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe’s letter to Radebe informing him that he intends to return to work, notwithstanding the incomplete investigation into allegations of misconduct against him. Hlophe should remain on leave until the JSC has completed its hearings into his alleged improper lobbying for Zuma.
The next and greater test is the appointment of a new chief justice and filling constitutional court vacancies. Several judges have positioned themselves as rivals to the man who really deserves to run our courts, Dikgang Moseneke. Hlophe clearly cannot get the top job, something Zuma is said to recognise, but who he selects will say a great deal about whether he intends to reward perceived loyalty to him or loyalty to the Constitution. For the first time in a while we are hopeful he will make the right choice.
SABC: we don’t need a rerun
You’d have to have had a fog light to try to understand recent goings-on at the SABC, but the political mist has cleared a little from time to time to suggest an ugly picture. Where the public broadcaster once was able to pay its own bills, it now has to raid the public purse to meet its ballooning costs.
When banks and car companies in the United States and elsewhere have needed a bail-out, at least the taxpayer got equity in exchange. Here the state already owns 100% of an increasingly pathetic creature.
But who is to blame? Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma for allowing their fight to drag in the whole of the body politic? The ANC for not reining in these two? The board for allowing schizophrenia to dominate over financial prudence? Or management for overseeing the transformation of a national resource into a public drain.
Today the Mail & Guardian highlights the role of Dali Mpofu whose reign as chief executive coincided with the financial implosion of the SABC. Mpofu, who inherited a well-run ship from Peter Matlare, appears to have been entirely lacking the necessary credentials to run a state broadcaster with R4-billion in annual turnover.
Mpofu’s grasp of the SABC’s finances appears to be so poor that when contacted by the M&G to comment on its spectacular road to ruin, which the SABC embarked upon while he was at the helm, he blamed revenue shortfalls for the mess. But a perusal of the SABC’s finances in the past few years shows that revenues have been growing nicely.
We can blame Mpofu, who clearly was not up to the job, the board who appointed him or the ANC and the parliamentary committee, which oversaw the appointment of the board. Or the other ANC politicians who never allowed the board to do its work. But perhaps more important than blame is understanding. The ruling party needs to understand that poor decisions, whether they are politically inspired or not, will come back to haunt it and all of us.
There is now an opportunity to start afresh. The lessons of recent history are all too clear, if only those who control the process are prepared to learn.