The Economist - USA (2022-02-26)

46 Middle East & Africa The EconomistFebruary 26th 2022

Tirades  from  a  faction  of  the  African

National Congress (anc) have been echoed

by  the  Economic  Freedom  Fighters  (eff),

anopposition party led by Julius Malema, a

race­baiting  former  head  of  the  anc‘s

youth  wing.  His  calls  to  grab  land  from

white farmers influence the left of the rul­

ing party. Mr Malema has described judges

as  “traumatised  old  people”.  An  eff mp

called the country’s chief prosecutor, Sha­

mila Batohi, a “renowned Indian racist”.

Why the increase in vitriol? One reason

is what Hugh Corder, also of uct, calls “the

burgeoning  scourge  of  ‘Lawfare’”.  As  the

presidency  and  parliament  have  proven

inept,  and  as  politics  has  become  more

fractious,  courts  have  been  asked  to  step

in.  Dikgang  Moseneke,  who  retired  from

the  Constitutional  Court  in  2016,  notes

that,  towards  the  end  of  his  tenure,  “our

democratic  system  appeared  to  have  lost

the  capacity  to  mediate  conflict  at  sites

other  than  the  courts  of  law”.  When  one

side loses they attack the referee. Mr Mose­

neke  adds  that  political  elites  have  every

reason  to  fight  their  battles  in  court  be­

cause taxpayers cover their legal costs.

Yet  complaints  about  overbearing

courts are often cloaks for self­interest. Mr

Zuma is already on trial for fraud and brib­

ery,  on  charges  dating  back  to  the  2000s.

He and his allies may face prosecution for

graft during his presidency. Senior figures

in and close to the effare alleged by South

African  journalists  to  have  been  involved

in  defrauding  a  bank  (the  party  denies

wrongdoing).  Such  people  are  naturally

keen to weaken a legal system that may de­

cide their fate.

It would help if those meant to defend

the courts did a better job. The recently re­

tired chief justice, Mogoeng Mogoeng, was

absent for much of the past year, in part be­

cause he was spreading the gospel as a lay

preacher. He did a poor job of chairing the

Judicial Services Commission (jsc), a body

of lawyers and political appointees that ad­

vises  on  judicial  appointment.  In  recent

years  the  highest  court  has  rarely  been  at

its full complement of 11 judges. It current­

ly  has  three  vacancies.  None  of  the  white

candidates were shortlisted, seemingly be­

cause of their race. Interviews of potential

successors  to  Mr  Mogoeng  became  dis­

graceful political theatre led by Mr Malema

and  Dali  Mpofu,  a  former  chair  of  the  eff

and lawyer for Mr Zuma. One judge was ac­

cused  without  evidence  of  being  a  sexual

predator; another of being too political.

Mr  Ramaphosa,  who  helped  draft  the

constitution in the 1990s, should be doing

more  to  defend  the  judiciary.  He  ought  to

have  fired  Ms  Sisulu,  who  took  an  oath  to

defend  the  constitution  she  now  attacks.

He  has  dawdled  over  picking  a  new  chief

justice,  whom  he  can  appoint  without  a

recommendation  from  the  jsc(by  law  he

just needs to consult the body).

Nicole Fritz of the Helen Suzman Foun­

dation, an ngo, worries that difficulties

faced by whites and those of Indian origin

in getting senior judicial jobs, and the per­

sonal attacks on judges of all races, mean

that good candidates will stop applying.

She fears the “long but irreversible decline

of the judiciary”. Mr de Vos frets that South

Africa may become like India, where a ju­

diciary once lauded for progressive judg­

ments has been undermined by politicians

with authoritarian tendencies.

For a while the courts were one of the

few institutions that retained the confi­

dence of the rainbow nation. No longer. In

2006 no less than 69% of South Africans

said they trusted courts “a lot” or “some­

what”, according to Afrobarometer, a poll­

ster. Today just 42% say they do. It is a find­

ing that should worry liberals—and cheer

Mr Zuma and Mr Malema. n

Jihadists in west Africa

Lines in the sand

A

drone whirsoverhead as Ivorian spe­

cial forces creep out of the under­

growth towards a mock village. French

trainers watch closely. Nearby, Ghanaian

commandos roar down a dusty road before

an explosion sends them retreating under

the gaze of British soldiers. Operation

Flintlock, an annual counter­terrorism

training exercise, appears to be going just

as it should: regional forces learning from

grizzled Western commandos.

Yet Flintlock also encapsulates some of

the weaknesses undermining the West’s

efforts to train local armies to defeat the ji­

hadists who have overrun large parts of

Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger and are now

attacking places to the south (see map).

These include a lack of leadership by coun­

tries in the region, a troubling retreat from

democracy and failed efforts to win the

support of disgruntled populations.

Flintlock is meant to be African­led. It

is anything but. It has been largely Western

troops, rather than forces from the region,

that have shaped strategies to fight the ji­

hadists in the Sahel. Meanwhile troops

from the two worst­hit countries—Burkina

Faso and Mali—did not attend Flintlock.

This is because in both countries colonels

(who had attended previous Flintlock exer­

cises) have booted out the elected govern­

ments in coups.

What is more, Flintlock is a good exam­

ple of a broad failure to communicate with

local populations, something the com­

mandos running the exercise repeatedly

say is the key to defeating insurgencies.

Foreign correspondents were free to hang

around during the exercises, but local jour­

nalists were only allowed to attend the

opening ceremony.

Such weaknesses have grave conse­

quences. Take Mali, which is losing its bat­

tle against the jihadists. After its elected

government failed to stem the violence, ar­

my officers cheered on by protesters boot­

ed it out. Unable to do a better job, the junta

has instead deflected blame for its failure

onto France and welcomed Russian merce­

naries. On February 17th France and its

European allies said they would pull their

troops out of Mali, which seems to have

been largely lost to the insurgency. Rear

Admiral Jamie Sands, the head of American

special forces in Africa, concedes that jiha­

dists are already able to move around most

of the country unimpeded.

With Mali all but written off, the front

lines are shifting. In Burkina Faso, where

last year more people were killed than in

Mali, many hope the junta will be more ef­

fective at fighting jihadists than the elect­

ed government it displaced. To the east

Mohamed Bazoum, Niger’s president, wor­

ries that without French troops in Mali, his

J ACQUEVILLE AND ABIDJAN

Coastal states are bracing themselves

for a jihadist storm

S A H E L

NIGER

MALI

BURKINA

FASO

NIGERIA

IVORY

COAST

GUINEA

MAURITANIA

GHANA

BENIN

TOGO

2018

Bamako

S A H E L

NIGER

MALI

BURKINA

FASO

NIGERIA

IVORY

COAST

GUINEA

MAURITANIA

GHANA

BENIN

TOGO

Abidjan

Gulf of Guinea

2021-22†

Jacqueville

SAHEL

Deaths* 5 25

Deadly events involving jihadist groups

50

Sources: ACLED;

José Luengo-Cabrera

*Incl. all reported civilian and

combatant deaths †To Feb th 500 km