COLUMN: Our democracy is very stable and resilient
Throughout my complex life, I have never encountered such a court judgment that is so rich in top-class brilliance, superb poetry and oratorical ingenuity...
On Tuesday, acting Chief Justice of the Constitutional Court, Sisi Khampepe penned and delivered a resplendent judgement in Jacob Zuma’s contempt of court case. The intellectual panache, scholastic elegance and sagacious finesse of that judgment will put a smile on the spiritual face of iconic playwright and poet, William Shakespeare. That contempt of court judgement will go down the annals of history as a rare magniloquent craft of genius. The 127 page verdict has not only brighten the virtuosity of scholastic intellectualism, but it had also enriched the supremacy of our constitutional democracy.
Delivering the majority judgement of the Constitutional Court (ConCourt), Justice Khampepe was unwavering in her fiercest criticism of Zuma’s abhorrent and sacrilegious disrespect of the judiciary. In January this year, Msholozi defiantly walked out of the State Capture Commission without
any expressed permission to do so. Consequent to that, the Commission’s chairperson, Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, urgently applied to
ConCourt to compel JZ to come and testify before the Commission.
In March the country’s apex court (ConCourt), issued a judicial order compelling Zuma to appear before the Commission. Belligerent and
recalcitrant as ever, Msholozi defiantly ignored the ConCourt order and continually refused to appear before the Commission. Through issuance
of public letters, Msholozi vilified and ridiculed the authority of the judiciary and the Commission.
After tolerating Zuma’s contemptuous obstinacy, the Zondo Commission urgently approached the ConCourt and filed an application for contempt of court. On Tuesday, ConCourt’s acting Chief Justice, Khampepe delivered a far-reaching and historic judgement against JZ. In that verdict, Zuma was slapped with a 15 month direct imprisonment for his egregious contempt of court. Khampepe warns that Zuma’s obdurate defiance would render our judiciary phantasmal and our democracy chimerical.
The judgement posits: “It is indeed the lofty and lonely work of the Judiciary, impervious to public commentary and political rhetoric, to uphold and apply the Constitution and the law at any and all costs. The collary duty borne by all members of society – lawyers, laypeople and politicians alike – is to respect and abide by the law and court orders issued thereof.”
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