Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma has to explain why he reshuffled his Cabinet because of a rule governing high courts which relates to reviews of decisions, Judge Bashier Vally said on Tuesday.
Rule 53 of the Uniform Rules of Court, which governs High Court proceedings, was established to regulate on a national basis the procedure to be followed in cases of all types of review, whether based on statutory or common law.
Vally said for the last five decades, courts had been able to perform their judicial functions because of rule 53.
He explained, in the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, the reasons for his ruling last Thursday in the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria that Zuma should hand over all records he used to justify reshuffling his Cabinet.
However, most of the cases where rule 53 was applied involved a decision or proceedings of an inferior court, a tribunal, a board, or an officer performing judicial, quasi-judicial or administrative functions, and not an executive decision.
Literal interpretation