Pretoria – The Presidency says it has noted the request of the Chief Justice to meet with President Zuma to discuss the concerns he raised.
“The President will attend to the matter as soon as he returns from the BRICS Summit in Ufa, in the Russian Federation.
“The President wishes to reassert his own commitment and that of the Executive to the independence of the Judiciary and its role as the final arbiter in all disputes in society, as well as to the further strengthening of the existing good working relations between the two arms of the State,” the Presidency said on Thursday.
The country’s highest judicial officers have requested a meeting between Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and President Jacob Zuma to point out and discuss the dangers of the repeated and unfounded criticism of the Judiciary.
“Criticism of that kind has the potential to delegitimise the courts. Courts serve a public purpose and should not be undermined,” Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said on Wednesday following an extraordinary judicial heads of court meeting.
Mogoeng said judges like others should be susceptible to constructive criticism.
“However, in this regard, the criticism should be fair and in good faith. Importantly the criticism should be specific and clear. General gratuitous criticism is unacceptable.”
He explained that in a adjudication process, judges do not act as a collective with a collective mind-set.
“Each Judge is informed by constitutional values, her or his conscience and brings to bear an individual judgement,” stressing that there are several levels of courts that serve a corrective purpose when judges make a mistake hence constitution provides for an appeal mechanism.
Moreover, he said judgments are often subjected to intensive peer and academic scrutiny and criticism.
According to the Chief Justice, there have been suggestions that in certain cases judges have been prompted by others to arrive at a pre-determined result.
“This is a notion that we reject. However, in a case in which a judge does overstep, the general public, litigants or other aggrieved or interested parties should refer the matter to the Judicial Conduct Committee of Judicial Service Commission.”
Mogoeng also reminded the nation that the rule of law is the cornerstone of the country’s constitutional democracy.
“In simple terms it means everybody whatever her or his status is subject to and bound by the constitution and the law. As a nation, we ignore it at our peril.”
He went on to explain that it is the rule of law that dictates that court orders should be obeyed.
“Our experience by and large is that court orders have been honoured by other arms of state. The few instances of where court orders have not been compiled with, whatever the reasons, have the effect of undermining the rule of law.” - SAnews.gov.za
