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A slippery Hlophe
02/07/2008 10:23 - (SA)
Chris Roper
It's in the Gospel according to St Matthew, I believe, where we read this useful advice. "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again."
The quotation came to me while perusing the myriad stories about Cape Judge President John Hlophe. Did I just say 'perusing' and 'myriad'? The Bible clearly has an unsettling influence on my writing. What I meant to say was, there's a klomp kak being written about our 'top' judges at the moment.
Some have allegedly tried to influence others to favour President in Waiting Jacob Zuma in the ongoing matter of his alleged corruption, others have allegedly lied to the public, and yet more are accused of allegedly "abusing facts" and 'wearing women's underwear.'
Before you get too excited about the last one, a) I made it up, and b) one of the Judges is actually a woman. Ha, gotcha. Still, a whiff of prurience would be welcome. American judicial scandals are much more fun.
Allegeds
Why all the allegeds, you ask, and the lack of names? Because I'm looking at the big picture here. For the average suspect in the street (as Judges are trained to think of the electorate) it matters little who did what to whom, what we see are worrying signs that the erosion of our judiciary's independence is potentially underway.
I note that, according to News24, "Jacob Zuma's attorneys have warned the Constitutional Court that the way it handles its complaint against Cape Judge President John Hlophe will have consequences for 'confidence' in the bench."
This sounds suspiciously like a threat to me, but maybe it's just big-hearted lawyers warning the Court that they need to work on their PR. After all, once one of your top judges is accused of political favouritism, you're on a slippery Hlophe to a total lack of confidence in the judicial system. And if you're wondering what a big-hearted lawyer is, it's like a non-practicing virgin, i.e. a contradiction in terms.
And speaking of virgins, lawyers and a corrupt judiciary (he said rather deftly), if you ever needed an example of the dangers of partisanship, consider the case of the hiring policy of the American Department of Justice, where they have mad Christians in charge of vetting applicants for jobs.
Okay, it's one mad Christian we're talking about, one Esther Slater McDonald, whose task was to find out whether applicants were "anarchists" or "leftists". I won't narrate the whole story to you (for more info go here), because the bit that interests me is the tale of the Pensacola Christian college where McDonald studied.
Eye babies
Pensacola has many crazy rules, some written, some socially mandated. For example, you can be disciplined for "optical intercourse" - staring too intently into the eyes of a member of the opposite sex. This is also referred to as "making eye babies." A man and a woman can't go to an off-campus restaurant together without a chaperon. And so on and so forth.
I cite the examples to demonstrate - not that it should need demonstrating - the importance of a judiciary that isn't politically, religiously or economically aligned with any particular group. We've just ditched the Mixed Marriages Act (at least I assume we have - things don't move fast in government circles), a law that was colloquially justified by the racist phrase "I just feel sorry for the children."
There's not much distancing that from the phrase "I just feel sorry for the eye babies" - any erosion of Constitutional rights leaves the door open for more and more insanity. I can't help feeling a certain doubt, a fear that the sanctity of our Constitution is not in safe hands.
As St Matthew wrote, "Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you."
Without sounding overly Pius, I know who the swine are in our particular cast of characters, and I hope you all do too.
Chris Roper awaits judgment on chrisroper.co.za
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