Judiciary under threat - Bizos

2006-02-21 08:50

Johannesburg - South Africa's plan to amend the constitution to push through what it calls judicial reform threatens the hard-fought independence of the judiciary, a leading human rights lawyer said on Monday.

The government has said by offering five bills to overhaul the running of the courts it merely wants to improve efficiency by transferring some responsibilities to the justice minister.

Most worryingly for opponents, which include the bar association, the proposed changes would remove the power of the highest court in the land to suspend an act of parliament deemed unconstitutional.

The prospect has struck a fearful chord in a country where, under decades of white apartheid rule, politicians frequently sought to meddle in the work of courts.

George Bizos - who defended Nelson Mandela in his apartheid-era treason trial - criticised the proposed laws, saying they showed a desire for more political control by the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which led South Africa to democracy in all-race elections in 1994.

"Any attempt to limit the functions and jurisdiction of the judiciary is an interference with its independence and therefore a danger to be avoided," Bizos told Reuters.

"I think there may be persons within the department of justice who are anxious to control aspects of judicial administration."

Turf war

The justice ministry in December gazetted five bills to overhaul the running of courts.

The most controversial calls for "administrative power" over the courts to be handed to Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla from the chief justice of the Constitutional Court, the highest in the land.

It would also put the minister in charge of court budgets.

In a paper delivered on Friday to a legal conference where the amendments were once again a hot topic, Bizos likened the current tussle to events in the 1950s when South Africa's whites-only parliament passed a law allowing it to override unfavourable court rulings.

When that law was thrown out by the Appeals Court, President JG Strydom simply increased the number of judges on its bench and filled the new positions with allies.

"I am not suggesting that we are witnessing a similar level of animosity today, but it may well be that some recently proposed constitutional amendments are the first step down that path," Bizos said.

"It seems a turf war is currently under way between the legislature and the judiciary."

Some analysts and local media reports have suggested the justice ministry may back down and that the showdown has merely been the ANC's way of testing the limits of its considerable power. The ANC has a massive two thirds parliamentary majority, which it could wield to push through the required constitutional change.

Bizos said he would not speculate on the motives for the proposals but hoped a compromise was still possible.

"I am optimistic that once these concerns have been communicated to the vast body of parliamentarians and the leadership of the ANC ... a compromise will be reached," he said.

- Reuters