Laughable litigation
IMAY be naive, but it seems to me to be a dangerous game when politicians – and political parties – challenge each other in court. Political litigation invariably turns nasty and nobody comes away looking good. It’s happening in Britain now, and in America. In South Africa political litigation is almost a national sport.
It seems ridiculous that politicians should rush out of Parliament and make accusations against each other in a court of law, when the function of law courts is to uphold the laws that were passed by Parliament originally. Surely the people who designed the laws should know how they work and not have to run to lawyers to have them interpret those laws?
It’s rather like having a team of engineers working together to build a bomb, and then throwing it at each other.
“Honourable Members, we have passed a new law. Now let us proceed to the law courts and test it on each other.”
I always believed democracy is “government of the people by the people”.
It should go without saying that it should also be understood by the people. It seldom is. Long ago the people lost track of what was happening.
Who are the good guys now and who are the bad guys? I suspect that a great deal of our country’s current wave of violence is due to ordinary people just losing their grip on life.
Nothing makes sense any more, so we might as well tear our hair out, rip our clothes off and run through the streets foaming at the mouth and waving an axe.
We won’t be madder than anybody else, although probably not as well paid as some of the loonies driving the ship of state.
When it comes to politics there’s obviously money in madness. My computer recently had an electronic nervous breakdown.
I didn’t blame it. I knew the feeling, and I really sympathised with the machine, but it was inconvenient because our editor was waiting for me to send him the latest edition of the Tavern of the Seas column.
I reacted perfectly normally, tore my clothes, foamed at the mouth, drooled, screamed and waved an axe (as one does).
Luckily, I have a calm friend who told me soothingly, “reboot, Boet, reboot”.
She explained that “rebooting” a computer was like combing its hair to remove the knots.
I rebooted. The computer apologised, settled down and sent my column to the editor, explaining it had had a bad day.
Obviously that’s the problem with most modern governments today. Their systems are overloaded.
Maybe we could all do with a parliamentary reboot.
I think that’s what Boris Johnson has done.
He calls it proroguing. We should think about it.
Last Laugh:
John thought it was time he got married, but every time he brought a girl home his mother disapproved of her.
A friend suggested he look for somebody who was just like his mother.
Later he reported: “I finally found a girl who looked like my mom, spoke like her and even enjoyed the same books as her.” “Wow!” said the friend.
“Are you going to marry her?”
“Nah. My dad hates her guts.” PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has delegated International Relations and Co-operation Minister Naledi Pandor to lead South Africa’s delegation to the upcoming United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) while he stays at home “to concentrate on critical issues in the country,” the presidency said yesterday.
Ramaphosa was due to participate in the 74th UNGA and related global meetings in New York from September 23 to 26, the presidency said in a statement.
“The president has decided to remain in South Africa to attend to the implementation of government’s urgent measures on genderbased violence, the restoration of order and stability in areas affected by public violence, and to oversee initiatives to turn around the economy.”
Over the next few days and weeks, Ramaphosa would meet communities, civil society, and structures of government on concrete actions to address public concerns and problems.
Together with cabinet colleagues, including the justice, crime prevention, and security cluster minister, Ramaphosa and Deputy President David Mabuza would focus on implementation of plans outlined in the State of the Nation address in June and the presidency 2019/20 budget vote debate.
“This is a time for leadership from across society to mobilise their respective constituencies in support of economic progress and rebuilding the social and moral fabric of society. Government is stepping up its own contribution to this collective effort,” Ramaphosa said in the statement.