The Economist - USA (2022-02-26)

The Economist February 26th 2022 45

Middle East & Africa

Anotherinstitutionattacked

Judging judges

T

here arefew more poignant locations
for  a  country’s  supreme  judicial  body
than  that  of  South  Africa’s  Constitutional
Court, in central Johannesburg. The build­
ing lies within the walls of the Old Fort pri­
son complex where, during the colonial era
and  under  apartheid,  black  inmates  were
given  less  food,  fewer  blankets  and  more
abuse  than  white  ones.  Many  who  strug­
gled against white rule were held there, in­
cluding  Mahatma  Gandhi,  Archbishop
Desmond Tutu (briefly), Albert Luthuli and
Nelson Mandela. The last three all won the
Nobel peace prize; not many countries can
boast  more  individual  laureates  than  the
Old Fort complex can.
South  Africa’s  courts  have  generally
honoured their legacy. The constitution, a
blend  of  liberal  ideas  such  as  the  separa­
tion  of  powers,  and  progressive  rights  to
social  services,  has  shielded  the  country
from  the  worst  excesses  of  power.  Yet  as
President Cyril Ramaphosa prepares to ap­
point  a  new  Chief  Justice,  the  judiciary is
under unprecedented attack from the ene­

mies of constitutional democracy.

There  has  long  been  tension  between

the  courts  and  the  other  branches  of  gov­

ernment.  Thabo  Mbeki,  president  from

1999  to  2008,  believed  a  crank  theory  that

the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv)

does not cause aids. In 2002, much to his

chagrin,  the  Constitutional  Court  told  his

government  to  provide  South  Africans

with anti­hivdrugs.

The  relationship  deteriorated  further

under the presidency of Jacob Zuma (2009­

18). In 2015 a judge ordered that the govern­

ment  must  bar  Omar  al­Bashir  from  leav­

ing  South  Africa  after  the  Sudanese  dicta­

tor,  who  was  wanted  by  the  International

Criminal Court, flew in for a summit. The

Zuma  administration  disobeyed  him.  The

next  year  the  Constitutional  Court  found

that  the  president  and  parliament  had

failed to uphold the constitution by ignor­

ing  findings  of  corruption  against  Mr  Zu­

ma by Thuli Madonsela, then the country’s

Public Protector, a legal ombudsman.

Such decisions riled Mr Zuma and oth­

ers in his government. The then president

told tribal chiefs that they would be better

off resolving disputes “in an African way”

(without  elaborating  on  what  this  might

mean),  instead  of  through  the  courts

which  “deal  with  cold  facts”.  Blade  Nzi­

mande, a minister, warned of “judicial dic­

tatorship”. Gwede Mantashe, another min­

ister,  reportedly  called  judges  “counter­

revolutionary forces”.

Yet 2021 “was arguably the court’s most

turbulent year”, argues Pierre de Vos of the

University  of  Cape  Town  (uct).  Mr  Zuma

accused the highest court of being “exactly

like  the  apartheid  government”  by  order­

ing  him  to  appear  before  an  inquiry  into

corruption during his reign. He was briefly

imprisoned for contempt of court after he

ignored the order. Jessie Duarte, an ally of

Mr  Zuma,  said  the  inquiry  was  “an  on­

slaught  on  the  people”.  Lindiwe  Sisulu,  a

cabinet  minister,  recently  called  some

black judges “mentally colonised Africans”

and “house negroes”.

J OHANNESBURG
The enemies of South African democracy have the judiciary in their sights

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