YCLSA WELCOMES THE RELEASE OF THE DISCUSSION DOCUMENT ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE JUDICIARY
01 March 2012
The Young Communist League of South Africa [Ufasimba] notes and welcomes the release of a Discussion document on the transformation of the judicial system and the role of the judiciary in the developmental South African state.
We have recently called for the transformation of the judiciary as part of our National Lekgotla resolutions and have stated strongly that our judges are not perfect and that since they are human; they are bound to err, to be biased and influenced by various social and political ambiances.
This we did not do with an aim of undermining the credibility and the independence of the institution itself, but we have found it to be our revolutionary duty to highlight that the members of the judiciary must in exercising their duty understand and respect the political authority of the legislature and the executive; as the powers vested in them are mandated and legitimised by members of society through a democratic process enshrined in our constitution.
We have called for a judiciary system that is accountable to the people and that we will campaign for amendments in the Constitution for the judiciary to be subjected to popular and democratic elections. If the judiciary, like the other branches of government serves the public, then the public must determine who should serve in such offices at all levels of the judiciary.
There are judgements that necessitate that the judiciary be transformed as they leave much to taste relating to transformation of our state and society; it cannot be normal that the courts serve as stumbling blocks of transformation and hide under the protection of the media. The judiciary is not immune from public scrutiny and its independence should never be elevated above the other branches of government which are democratically elected by the people and are accountable to the people.
We have a revolutionary task to intensify the transformation agenda in all public institutions for the benefit of our people and ensure that these institutions serve the people of South Africa without racial and class prejudice as it has been noted in the recent past.
We have also raised the issue of the judges declaring interests like all other public servants at their level. We cannot turn a blind eye to the fact that judges are regulated under a different set of rules when it comes to the declaration of the amount of wealth that they amass. We need to tighten the rules applicable to them to protect our democracy and freedoms from being bought through the courts. The judges must state how they acquire their mysterious wealth like all other public servants.
We will continue to engage with the processes of contributions to the Discussion Document on the transformation of the judiciary and wish that all members of society will engage within the process.
In this we also plead to media houses to refrain from rubbishing the process and cease making innuendos suggesting that the process is sinister and allow fair engagement and contribution to the transformation of this critical institution of our democracy.
In as much as we uphold and embrace the freedom of the media, (in informing the public, among other things), as enshrined in the hard-earned elements of our constitution, we also want to remind the media fraternity that the working class and the toiling masses of our people also take advantage of the very same constitution in electing their public representatives, and these representatives also in transforming the judiciary act within the ambit of the Constitution. Media houses are not necessarily the legitimate representatives of the electorate in particular and the public in general as they sometimes think.
Statement issued by Mangaliso Stalin Khonza, YCL national spokesperson, March 1 2012
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