IFP: RADEBE'S DISCUSSION DOCUMENT ON THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE JUDICIARY PARTIALLY ILL-ADVISED

Minister of Justice of Jeff Radebe has released a discussion document on the transformation of the judicial system containing things which in a truly democratic society ought not to even be discussed, while omitting others which should at the centre of our discussions.

The document should have not contained a discussion on the exercise of judicial constraint. It is not for the Executive to issue policy directives on whether or not the Judiciary should restrain itself from exercising the full measure of judicial functions mandated to it by the law or the Constitution. On calling on judicial constraint the Minister of Justice is effectively hinting at the judiciary not performing its Constitutional duties on policy or political considerations. This is unacceptable of a Minister of Justice.

The other aspect unbecoming of a Minister of Justice is the suggestion that the Executive should asses the decisions of the Constitutional Court. Even though this portion of the document is carefully crafted to disguise this possibility, it is obvious that what is being talked about is a scorecard on how well the Constitutional Court performs in the eyes of the Executive. This is inadmissible.

Rather than talking about judicial restraint, the Minister ought to exercise executive restraint so as not to even create the impression of wanting to establish mechanisms to hold the Constitutional Court accountable to the Executive, which would totally subvert the Constitutional channels of accountability.

The most glaring omission in the Minister's report is the absence of any vision to transform the judicial process. So obsessed is the Minister with racial transformation and the replacement of people, that he has a blind eye to justice being a privilege of the rich and remaining inefficient and unreliable.

The IFP has made concrete proposals to transform overnight the present highly expensive, inefficient and obsolete judicial process into one that keeps up with the times both in terms of efficiency and affordability. The Minister seems to have no interest to any of this, which may suggest that his priorities are not quite in order. The proposals made by the IFP are tried and tested in other countries and have the capacity of reducing a three month trial to a three day trial and enabling one lawyer to do the work for which now three lawyers often seems to be necessary.

Statement issued by Dr Mario Oriani Ambrosini MP, Inkatha Freedom Party, February 28 2012

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