Tag: constitutionalism

The Western (including South African) judiciary is a peculiar thing. To defy a judge is to commit an offence to society so great that most people do not even consider the merits of the defiance, and rush immediately to demand punishment. The recent controversy around Judge Mandlenkosi Motha is a case in point.

Martin van Staden | Head | Policy | Free Market Foundation | mail me | No matter what legal tradition you grew up with or which you...

South Africa is facing an extraordinary ‘polycrisis’. The dimensions of this crisis include an energy collapse; a failing rail network; weak education outcomes; an interrupted water supply; and the effects of decades of endemic corruption that have brought much of government to a halt.

As African liberal minds assemble in the ‘Mother City’ to trade ideas on a variety of strategies for effective liberal governance on our continent, the old English adage says, when big minds assemble in one room, it is unlikely they will agree on anything, is appropriate.

For us liberals, it matters little who makes a million dollars every other day, or how the world’s most endowed billionaires spend their wealth. As long as legitimate effort is exerted in an environment of free market competition; where entrepreneurship is recognised and rewarded on the basis of good business ethics and hard honest work.

Since the Legal Practice Act of 2014 came into operation, a change came about in the legal community that is unnoticeable on the surface, but which will have significant consequences over time. Prior to the Act coming into operation, the advocates’ profession regulated itself according to its own institutional ethos and the standards set by its members. Now, the profession is ultimately controlled by the Department of Justice (DoJ), through the Legal Practice Council (LPC).