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THE South African judiciary – which is known for distancing itself from the political issues of the day most times - this week hit back at ANC attacks on its integrity.
This is the only good thing to come out of President Jacob Zuma’s rejection last month of the directive from the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.
It has forced the judiciary to stand up and be noticed.
Addressing the media this week, Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng said: “We are aware of one eyebrow-raising, apparent disregard of a court order and we believe this meeting is strong enough to discourage anyone from doing it again,” in an apparent reference to the Al-Bashir case.
“But if it had to happen, we will cross that bridge when we get there… they will (have to) make sure such (a thing) doesn’t happen again,” he added.
However, no one can provide guarantees that history will not repeat itself.
This is in view of the fact that Zuma’s government has on several occasions shown its disregard for the South African law and its practitioners.
Zuma has gone against South Africa’s much-admired constitution, claiming the courts cannot be above the powers of the political mandate bestowed to the executive by the democratic polls.
Additionally, the executive and the judiciary have often clashed, with Police Minister Nkosinathi Nhleko recently accusing judges of plotting with unnamed people to come up with certain judgments. Further accusations around the judiciary came from his comrades ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe and South African Communist Party general secretary Blade Nzimande.
An atmosphere of graft and immunity
It does not end there. Zuma has crafted an atmosphere of graft and immunity around himself. This became evident when an ANC-dominated probe into the spending on upgrades to Zuma’s Nkandla homestead exonerated him from Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's ruling that he pay back some of the money taken from state coffers for this purpose.
This disregard for court orders and other rulings from Chapter 9 institutions symbolises a steep plunge from the values of governance as espoused by former president Nelson Mandela.
Mandela, one of the founding fathers of the new, democratic and non-racial South Africa, was among the ICC's illustrious advocates.
Mandela contended that the atrocities perpetrated against the majority of South Africans during the apartheid era would never have occurred if the the government of the time had been a member of the ICC.
South Africa was among the first countries in the world to endorse the Rome Statute that launched the ICC 17 years ago.
The South African government showed absolute disdain for the ICC by ignoring the high court order to not let Al-Bashir leave the country.
However, most African leaders say a particular pattern has developed in the ICC, with the organisation based in The Hague targeting only African leaders for arrest.
They also claim that more than 70% of ICC funding comes from the European Union, making it hard for the ICC to prosecute European leaders.
In the light of all the bad behaviour by the ANC-led government, Mogoeng and his high-powered delegation this week saw fit to request a meeting between the chief justice and Zuma "to point out and discuss the dangers of the repeated and unfounded criticism of the judiciary".
But if statements by Nzimande at the SACP special national congress in Soweto this week are any indication, Zuma and the ANC are far from changing their wayward ways.
Nzimande said the hope that the government should have jailed Al-Bashir was an affront against South Africa’s autonomy.
"It was correct not to arrest Al-Bashir in South Africa," Business Day quoted Nzimande as having said.
It never rains but pours in South Africa.
