OPINIONISTA: Who will watch the court-watchers? By Elisha Kunene
, thus leaving the holding of the High Court in place, because the Chief Justice had not been present when the case was heard. De Vos begins with a sentence which I found deeply intriguing:South Africa’s Constitutional Court, and the jurisprudence emanating from that court, remain well-regarded among progressive legal scholars and judges in South Africa and in many other parts of the world.”
”? It’s all quite confusing. But do UCT professors really think their informally conferred approval is the litmus test for a successful Constitutional Court?on the Constitutional Court, and some of the arguments are similar, but I was startled by the way De Vos seems to scapegoat the four acting Justices who had formed part of the quorum on a decision with which he disagreed.
The worst part of the De Vos piece is that it admits to being entirely unsubstantive. The core of the court’s split in Shane Jacobs was jurisprudential and De Vos’ focus on a scrivener’s error in a footnote from two years ago obscures that important reality. In making this admission, De Vos states that:… [i]t is important to note here that Deputy Chief Justice Zondo disagreed with the conclusion that Makhubela was clearly wrongly decided.
This is precisely the issue that was argued in court. And the applicants only persuaded five judges their case was justiciable. They lost on the ordinary operation of the legal system. Nothing less. Nothing more. It also bears mentioning that if Justice Froneman’s side had prevailed and the court had decided it did not have jurisdiction, the case would have been thrown out at no less cost to the applicants.
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