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.