Parliament gazettes DA’s Private Members Bill to protect our Judiciary from politicisation
22 September 2015
The DA’s Private Member’s Bill, "The Eighteenth Constitutional Amendment Bill", on how to firewall the Judicial Services Commission (JSC) has been gazetted for public comment. This is the first of several actions which the DA will be taking to fight to firewall the independence of South Africa’s key institutions.
The primary object of this Bill is to ensure that the JSC is protected from undue politicisation from a President and his Cabinet. This has long been the DA’s policy and our motivation to proceed with this Bill has been reiterated after increasing attacks on the judiciary by President Zuma and the ANC.
The JSC is the body responsible for appointing judges to all courts in South Africa and it thus imperative that this body fulfils its mandate in an unbiased and impartial manner.
It is also important to ensure that the JSC when considering candidates for judicial appointment take into account their competency to perform judicial functions.
The aim of the Bill is ultimately to safeguard the JSC from undue political manipulation and to reduce its size so that it can more effectively fulfil its constitutional mandate.
The Bill seeks to do this by decreasing the number of commissioners on the JSC. Specifically, this Bill proposes that Commissioners serving on the JSC be reduced from 23 to 17. This will drastically lessen the number of politicians on the JSC thereby reducing opportunity for undue political interference.
Other changes sought by the Bill include the following:
Clause 1(b) recommends that the establishment of clear criteria for the appointment of judges;
Clause 2(c) recommends that the four existing presidential appointees are reduced by half; and
Clause 2(a)(h) seeks to amend section 178 of the Constitution thereby recommending that the 10 members of Parliament be reduced to 6 members.
The Bill has now been published in the Government Gazette for 40 days of public comments. This is a vital Bill to safeguard a key institution in our constitutional democracy and thus we invite anyone interested to comment on the Bill. After the 40 days have expired the DA will then proceed to introduce the Bill to Parliament.
As primary custodian of our judiciary, Chief Justice Mogoeng must do all in his power to ensure the independence of the ConCourt and other courts. He must be diligent in urging the JSC calls for nominations to fill vacancies and thereby ensuring qualified and independent jurists are appointed to the Courts.
Equally, the DA will appeal to all members of Parliament to support this Bill following the public submissions phase to ensure that our Judiciary is safeguarded from political interference as it might very well be the last bulwark against the complete erosion of our constitutional democracy.
Statement issued by Adv Hendrik Schimdt MP, DA Member of the Judicial Services Commission, 22 September 2015
