Unfortunately, the fact that these judges are appointed by our elected representatives often leads the man in the street to assume the judiciary should play second fiddle to parliament or should be subservient to parliament.

The Judicial Services Commission is, from the perspective of the constitution, little more than an employment agency and after making appointments, hands (metaphorically speaking) the crown over to the judiciary. In a democracy the judiciary is the only body that ever gets to wear the crown. Unfortunately, however, we no longer make use of a crown and it is quite understandable that many parliamentarians do not understand completely the role that has been assigned to them by the constitution.

Jacob Zuma's review of the Constitutional Court's powers is therefore likely to be an expensive waste of time, money and energy.