Thembile Ndabeni
CAPE TOWN - “...A judicial Service Commission (JSC) helps to restrain politically partisan courts appointments… ”(Tom Lodge, 2002:153)
We fought for democracy as individuals and as a collective as well.
No one person or party can claim it is the only one that fought for democracy. Some of the individuals and their parties who claim to be revolutionary were not even in existence during the era of Struggle.
The commission was formed to serve the nation and not political parties.
But from the look of things, it seems the latter applies. Firstly, it does not take a genius to see that a certain candidate is favoured by individuals from certain parties or associations.
The reason being not because they qualify, but because they know or think that they will favour them. Secondly, they do not favour the other because they are the opposite of the preferred one, or they have political scores to settle.
It works very well if the preferred one is a woman. They exploit the situation of gender parity.
However, if the woman is not the best candidate, there would be discontent. What must also be borne in mind is that some leaders or parties do not have a good reputation in the eyes of the public. Therefore, that will dent the image of the victorious candidate and the commission as well.
Every party can contest the elections and operate freely, but bodies like the commission are not spaces for parties but for the country, nation, and society.
Political parties are neither a foundation nor pillars of society. Some are reactionary, and others are extremists. A good thing can be bad because it is in bad hands.
Political parties protect their interests and those of their electorate though some fail in the latter because of selfishness and greed.
On the former, they take advantage of the given situation. Because of the ulterior motive, they will be soft to this candidate and hard and ruthless towards the other.
They make sure that they research as much as they can to expose the candidate they do not want.
The aim is to expose and destroy him or her.
Watching carefully at the session of the JSC, one could see how unfair and biased the so-called commissioners were.
It’s no coincidence that I refer to them as so-called commissioners. We must be careful of entrusting people who serve their interests and crown it by giving them titles they do not deserve.
A commission is a body that comprises human beings with integrity for a special mission.
Now, if you say parties must be represented, obviously, it is highly likely that not all representatives from the political parties will be people of integrity, literally and figuratively.
People of integrity know what to say, when to say it, where to say it and how to say it.
There are many in South Africa who qualify to be part of the commission. It can be formed from the following people: religious leaders, academics, business people, lawyers.
Sometimes, history is not just a good teacher but also a good source of reference. During the dark days of apartheid, there were leaders from the diversity of our nation in the Struggle.
Some of them did not demonstrate their political views but only committed to the Struggle against the oppressive apartheid system; the same applies to academics and business people.
When the country was burning, and there was a need between the leaders of the oppressors and the oppressed to meet, academics and business took the initiative.
The need was to save the country and not the interest of one group. There are many lawyers, the association of lawyers and retired judges of integrity who either are not politically biased or do not belong to any political view but are knowledgeable and informed.
It is not about political alignment, which is very much detrimental in this situation, but about honest, knowledgeable, and informed people.
Even on crucial matters of national interests, politicians can be opportunists who want to score political points. How can a commission comprise such people?
From a patriotic and revolutionary perspective, we must defend the gains of our democracy the way we must defend it against racist, hypocritical parties that want to retain racism and master-race supremacy.
We must guard our democracy against setbacks by anyone with an ulterior motive. Ulterior motives take different shapes and sizes and are smartly dressed to appeal to the majority of South Africans.
The bottom line is, suffocated as it is, the JSC is not the last line of defence.
There are leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly, and then finally, the President decides.
The weighing in of the likes of former public protector Professor Thuli Madonsela saying the Judicial Service Commission has got no power to recommend helps. It closes the gender and colour populist rhetoric card being played.
The gender part is obvious: the woman candidate was the only woman candidate and would be the first woman chief justice. The colour part, because so far, the most vocal people happen to be white or white dominated institutions, if I may.
The candidate might be the best but may be bedevilled by the people who raise his or her name, bias. In Choosing Credible Judges “For this condition to be fulfilled, the people who make such decisions must know and respect their society’s system of law and standard of justice.” (The Human Polity, Kay Lawson, 1989:382.)
The turn of events in the JSC’s last interview spoiled the broth.
Ndabeni is a former history tutor at the University of the Western Cape, and former educator at Bulumko Senior Secondary in Khayelitsha
Cape Times