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THERE’S a legend that in 40AD the Roman emperor Caligula saw fit to appoint his favourite horse – Incitatus – as a consul and a priest. Nobody, of course, dared challenge the emperor, whose word was always final – notwithstanding he participated in a political system that was one of the foundations of modern democracy.

Caligula routinely had his perceived political enemies assassinated while commanding vast public resources to provide him with luxuries, such as sprawling estates, hordes of servants and easy and regular access to the fairer sex to feed his exceptional libidinous drives, not satisfied by four wives.

When conferring upon his beloved steed Incitatus the status of consul – which in the Roman empire meant “either of two annually elected magistrates who jointly exercised the highest authority in the republic” – it can be assumed Caligula was exercising his unfettered right to appoint whomever or, in this case, whatever he wished to whatever office he deemed fit.

I was reminded of all that in a recent exchange in parliament. PJ Groenewald, of the FF Plus, asked President Jacob Zuma: “With reference to his statement on 31 October 2010 that he has changed his cabinet in order to ensure improved service delivery and strengthen existing ministries, in what way will these changes to his cabinet bring about improved service delivery?”

The presidential response, inter alia, was: “The composition of cabinet and the appointment of deputy ministers is the prerogative of the president. The president is under no obligation to explain the reasons for his actions in that regard.”

Really? If that’s so, then the president is above the law and, in particular, above South Africa’s constitution. Like Caligula, he can appoint whomever he wishes to his cabinet in terms, to quote him, of his “prerogative” and, to quote him again, he “is under no obligation to explain the reasons for his actions in that regard”.

Surely our constitution doesn’t confer upon a politician an unfettered right to do as he chooses and be beyond any requirement to explain his actions to anyone? Yet that’s clearly what Jacob Zuma is telling us in his reply to Groenewald: I’ll appoint whomever I like and, notwithstanding this is a constitutional democracy under which I, like all other citizens, am accountable to the law, no one can demand of me to reveal my reasons for an appointment as important as that of a minister or deputy minister.

The Electoral Institute for the Sustainability of Democracy (EISA) informs us the “Public Protector, essentially an ombudsman, is established to protect the people against violations of their human rights, abuse of powers, error, negligence, unfair decisions and maladministration, in order to improve public administration and make government’s actions more open and the government and its public servants more accountable to members of the public”.

Thus, presumably, someone with a decent and persuasive argument could go the Public Protector and persuade that office to insist Zuma reveal to us his reasons for a particular cabinet appointment. Surely, if the questioner had a fair point then the president would be obliged, if so instructed by the Public Protector, to respond?

Given the seemingly unlimited capacity of the African National Congress to forgive erring members it’s surely not beyond the realms of possibility that one day Zuma, or one of his successors, might want to appoint someone with, say, an unarguably atrocious record of mismanagement bordering on criminal to the cabinet?

Perhaps he might even wish to appoint someone with a criminal record, such as the illustrious arms deal beneficiary – Tony Yengeni – to the cabinet, although that might be a bridge too far even for the ANC. If he’s happy with his appointments, why would the president hide behind what he calls his “prerogative” – as if it were some kind of imperial edict? He may, as he puts it, be “under no obligation to explain the reasons for his actions…” But if he’s content with them and has nothing to hide, why not?

We live in a world where facts and fiction get blurred
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