Judiciary Fishery

The Supreme Court of Appeal is the odd-court-out in the South African system. These are the boffins who made a mess of the question of the supposed “generally corrupt relationship” in the Schabir Shaik appeal – words that Judge Hillary Squires never uttered, but which the SCA put in his mouth. Those particular chickens have yet to come home to roost.

Now the SCA has pronounced on several cases where the NPA (Scorpions) have crashed in to seize papers in pursuit of evidence, purportedly to make the case they have been threatening against Jacob Zuma for more than seven years. Zuma’s lawyers are rightly fighting every inch of the way, and will seek to take the matters to the Constitutional Court (see Michael Hulley’s statement, linked below). The Con Hill cowboys will probably pay attention. It would be unlike them to miss an opportunity of being in the limelight, anyway.

Even if the Scorps do get the documents they say they want, there is no sign that these documents will actually make a case for them. In fact it is extremely unlikely that this will happen. The Scorps are only on a vexatious “fishing exhibition”. Because of that, they may turn out to be their own worst enemies.

The SCA pronouncement has in practice provided a very useful occasion for the SACP, COSATU, the YCL and the ANC Youth League to make very clear that they support Jacob Zuma in these matters. COSATU, the YCL and the ANCYL (on TV) went one or two steps further and endorsed Cde JZ once again as their preference for both ANC and national Presidency (see the statements below).

The unity of support for Jacob Zuma in his trials has been demonstrated time and again (whereas the support for “Billy Downerism” is confined to a minority). Zuma’s political opponents must be wishing that this unity had not been called up again, so close to the Polokwane ANC 52nd National Conference.

Lastly, COSATU has stated its position in relation to the amalgamation of FEDUSA and NACTU, now jointly calling themselves SACOTU. See the COSATU statement below.

Coming Events include Cde Dinga Sikwebu’s lecture on the Russian Revolution this evening at 17h00 at 9th Floor, Renaissance Building, Gandhi Square, Johannesburg. Tomorrow at 14h00 there will be a showing of a new film on the Zimbabwean Gukurahundi at the Devonshire Hotel in Braamfontein. Click on the last link below for fuller details of these and other future events.

The long-overdue new Umsebenzi Online distribution-list Google-Group web-site is at http://groups.google.com/group/umsebenzi-online. It has grown to sixty members in only two days. There is a box on the bottom left-hand side of the SACP web site where people can subscribe to this group in the simplest possible way, just by typing an e-mail address and clicking a button.

The Communist University now has one of these boxes box there too, and on the YCL web site (also at bottom left) where there is another box for joining the YCLSA Discussion Forum, as well.

This YCL Discussion Forum has grown very fast this week to nearly four times its previous size. It is surely good and ready for some debates. There is so much to discuss, but comrades are shy. Please try to get something going on that group, comrades of the CU. Among other things, forum debating is a very good way to get writing practice, maybe the best you can get.

The illustration is Le Corbusier’s “Modulor” diagram, which he developed as part of his semi-fascist “Unité d’Habitation” concept. In this image, “man as the measure of all things” has been reduced and vulgarised into “man as standard commodity”.

Click on these links:

Statement by Michael Hulley, attorney for Jacob Zuma (236 words)

SACP re Judgement of Supreme Court of Appeal on JZ matters (416 words)

COSATU response to SCA judgement in Zuma-linked cases (599 words)

YCL reaction to Supreme Court of Appeal ruling in JZ-linked cases (357 words)

COSATU reaction to formation of SACOTU (381 words)

Coming Events