http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=1174

The Rule of Law and “conflicts of interests”
Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by Pierre De Vos

One of the most important but often neglected aspects of the Rule of Law is the requirement that individuals must be able to enforce their rights and legal entitlements in a court of law. At the heart of the Rule of Law is the notion that we are a rule-based society and that everyone - no matter how powerful or weak - must have the equal chance to enforce their rights and legal entitlements as set out by law.

Click here to read the judgment in word and here to read it in pdf.

A (partial) victory for Joe Slovo residents
Posted on June 10th, 2009 by Pierre De Vos

The Constitutional Court today granted an order for the eviction of Joe Slovo residents to far off Delft to facilitate the building of houses as part of the N2 Gateway Project. The fact that the court ordered the removal of people from their homes where they have lived for the past 15 years, will rightly be harshly criticised. It has failed to display the kind of “grace and compassion” one would expect of the self-styled champion of the vulnerable and dispossessed.

Irene Grootboom died, homeless, forgotten, no C-class Mercedes in sight
Posted on August 11th, 2008 by Pierre De Vos

Irene Grootboom died last week, but we hardly noticed as we were all too busy obsessing about yet another court appearance of Mr. Jacob Zuma. She died homeless and penniless, not yet fifty years old, in the same week that robbers broke into the garage of ANC Youth League President Julius Malema’s upmarket home in Sandton and stole stuff from his C-Class Mercedes.

The ANC Youth League did not have time to issue a press statement about the death of Mrs. Grootboom. They were too upset about the break-in at the fancy house of Mr. Malema. Breaking into a C-Class Mercedes is apparently not a revolutionary act - especially if that C-class belongs to Comrade kortbroek Malema. Thus the Youth League did have time to pontificate on this break-in: who cares about a poor and destitute woman who made legal history if there is a revolution to be fought and a man of dubious ethical standards to be defended. The Youth League statement reads in part:

http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/?p=489

No compassion for people who do not drive a Porsche?

Posted on March 11th, 2008 by Pierre De Vos

One would think that it would have been hard for Judge President of the Cape, John Hlophe, to order the forced eviction of 20 000 poor, black people from the Joe Slovo informal settlement. After all, when he was in trouble for taking hundreds of thousands of Rand from the Oasis company and then lied about the reasons for these “out of pocket” expenses, he presented himself as a champion of transformation and a victim of racism.