A sense of unease

YESTERDAY, Judge Bashir Vally of the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria gave his reasons for his ruling that President Jacob Zuma provide reasons for his cabinet reshuffle.

The reshuffle, which caused widespread consternation locally and internationally, with dramatic effects upon the value of the rand against foreign currencies, saw the dismissal of a number of cabinet ministers, chief among them Pravin Gordhan as finance minister, along with his deputy, Mcebisi Jonas.

The decision sparked a wave of popular protest that cut across party political lines and shattered the tripartite alliance and cleaved the already fraught ANC into factions at each others’ throats, dispensing with any pretence of comradeship.

The opposition DA then took the president to court to provide reasons why he made the decision he did.

Yesterday, Judge Vally stressed his intent was not to interfere in the president’s executive powers but to rather ensure that those decisions had been applied rationally – and that the president accepted this.

The reality, though, is that far too many people will see the court ruling as doing the opposite, blurring the lines between the separation of powers and providing yet more ammunition for those who feel a government elected by majority rule is being hamstrung by the work of a minority hellbent on tying it up in the courts. There is merit in both arguments. Indeed, if there was ever anyone who has made full use of the law to frustrate bids against him – during his time in and out of office – it is the president himself.

While Judge Vally’s decision once again underscores the laudable independence of our judiciary, we are uneasy though at any precedent that perennially has the president’s actions scrutinised in court.

The president has the prerogative to shuffle his cabinet as often as he wants and to supersize it as he has. He has the power to appoint and disappoint, with the rider being that if he is unsuccessful his administration will pay the price at the ballot box.

That is democracy; government by the people for the people and through the people.

Recourse to the law, while perhaps allowed, flies against the spirit of this.