Chief Justice Mogoeng secures date with Zuma

04 August 2015 - 20:22 By RDM News Wire
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President Jacob Zuma has announced a date to meet the judiciary‚ a month after an unprecedented show of force by 27 of South Africa’s most senior judges‚ led by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng.

“The meeting between the Executive and the Judiciary will take place on Thursday‚ 27 August 2015 in Pretoria‚ hosted by President Jacob Zuma in his capacity as Head of State‚” said a brief statement issued by the Presidency.

The judges had called for a meeting in early July‚ to discuss the “general gratuitous criticism” of the judiciary by cabinet ministers and other politicians including ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe and SA Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande. Police Minister Nathi Nhleko also charged: “some elements of the judiciary meet with characters to produce certain judgments”.

The government recently disregarded a high court order that Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir be prevented from leaving South Africa after an African Union conference in Johannesburg. Mantashe said some judges were against the state. He said there were concerns that judgments of certain high court divisions consistently went against the state.

A tripartite alliance summit statement said judgments "of certain regions and judges are consistently against the state".

Mogoeng‚ in calling for the meeting with Zuma‚ said that although judges‚ like everyone else‚ should be susceptible to constructive criticism‚ that criticism should be “specific and clear”.

The rule of law was the cornerstone of South Africa’s constitutional democracy and everyone was bound by the constitution and the law.

“As a nation we ignore it at our peril‚” he said.

RDM News Wire.

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