The Concourt is not blameless

THE stand-off, seemingly at the top, found expression on the ground, resulting in sporadic riots of a tragic scale. Noone should dare blame it on “ethnic mobilisation”.

The rot lies from within. Some castigate President Cyril Ramaphosa as rags-to-riches elitist patronised by unscrupulous capitalists who masquerade as secret donors.

While others harbour a grudge that these donors pledged about half a billion rand to his CR17 campaign, but they couldn’t aid poor students protesting to gain admission at higher education institutions amidst the rising levels of poverty and unemployment in the country.

So it should come as no surprise that the incarceration of former president Jacob Zuma laid a scene for looting as a means of vengeance. This has convulsed the economy, at a huge cost to society.

However, the Constitutional Court cannot be absolved for gambling with justice to risk a legitimacy crisis. It misdirected itself by allowing the state of capture commission to undermine the hierarchy of courts and violate the Constitution. This is no way to run the judiciary.

If aggrieved parties were to present a petition to the International Court of Justice, an especial course the commission followed would be declared unjust to sustain the minority judgment of the apex court. The Constitution clearly stipulates that a court, when interpreting the Bill of Rights, must have regard to international law. Therefore, any violation of the rules of international law constitutes an infringement of the principles of human rights.

Hopefully, this avenue would be explored to restore the system of judicial precedent in accordance with the needs of everyday legal practice. Needless to say the judiciary is perceived to be influenced to dispense a selective justice.

Just as secrecy is shielded from suspicion to a point of extenuation by courts. But history will be a judge! | MORGAN PHAAHLA Ekurhuleni