STATEMENT: CFCR WELCOMES SUPREME COURT OF APPEAL’S JUDGMENT REGARDING POWERS OF PUBLIC PROTECTOR
2015-10-08
The Centre for Constitutional Rights (the CFCR) welcomes the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) judgment in SABC v DA in which the Court upheld an order by the Western Cape Division of the High Court to suspend South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) Chief Operating Officer, Hlaudi Motsoeneng, pending a disciplinary hearing.
Crucial as this order may be, the judgment is also of cardinal importance as it relates to the constitutional values of accountable, responsive and open government as required by sections 1 and 41 of the Constitution.
On 22 September 2015 the Centre for Constitutional Rights (CFCR) and the School of Public Leadership (SPL) at Stellenbosch University (SU), supported by the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), hosted the fourth in a series of breakfast discussions for 2015. The aim of these discussions is to create a platform for conversation and debate about the Constitution and good public leadership.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights (the CFCR) welcomes Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s intervention in relation to the recent spate of 
Ladies and gentlemen,
“The basis of a democratic state is liberty” – Aristotle
The Public Protector’s report into the non-security upgrades at the President’s homestead at Nkandla found that the President had unduly benefited from improvements and additions at his private residence and that he had tacitly accepted those improvements.
Section 25 of the Constitution, the property clause reflects a delicate balancing act between the protection of private property rights on the one hand and serving the public interest largely in the realm of land reform on the other hand. Arguably, the provisions in the property clause strike a proportionate balance between the two latter functions. This may well be about to change should the governing party’s policy proposals, most recently echoed by President Zuma during his 2015 State of the Nation Address, be passed into law.
The Centre for Constitutional Rights (the CFCR) notes with great concern the events of 12 February 2015 surrounding the joint sitting of Parliament, and State of the Nation address.
When will the President be answering questions in the National Assembly again?