Cosatu accuses the judiciary of threatening South African democracy. Wait… what?
The labour movement believes that the folks charged with upholding the rule of law are the ones damaging the country… go figure.
Interesting how Cosatu – who, incidentally, is an alliance partner of the communist party – as we all know, communists are big supporters of democracy – would take aim at the judiciary shortly after their partners the ANC, in the form of Nathi Nhleko and the South African Communist Party, in the form of Blade Nzimande did the exact same thing.
Well, less interesting and more worrying, when you consider that these three organisations make up the tripartite alliance that governs South Africa. Anyway, according to Cosatu’s president, S’dumo Dlamini, the judiciary is a threat to democracy, also known as a threat to the alliance doing as they please without any legal consequences.
“We have seen how our hard won advances secured since the democratic breakthrough continue to face threats from our own judiciary which zigzags from making progressive rulings which asserts the new democratic dispensation and making rulings which clearly protects apartheid privileges and in many cases constituting judicial overreach and undermining the doctrine of the separation of powers,” Dlamini told his trade union.
“The result of this has been to undermine the majority rule and to impose setbacks on development which favour the majority of South Africans, the majority of whom is the working class.”
The head of our judiciary, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, however, has hit back and recently called for a meeting with president Zuma, where he’ll hopefully lay down the… ahem, law and put the politician’s apparent interference in judicial matters to rest.
Said Mogoeng: “Judges are open to criticism, but it should be fair, specific. General, gratuitous criticism is unacceptable.”
The meeting is set for August 27.
Via News24