Chairperson, An independent judiciary is part of the lifeblood of any constitutional democracy. Justice Rezine Mzikamanda, Judge President of the High Court of Malawi in 2007 in an article entitled: The place of the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law in democratic sub- Saharan Africa identified certain essential elements of judicial independence. Of these, we are happy to say, the following elements are present in South Africa in a more or less uncontroversial manner: The constitutional guarantee of judicial independence; a transparent and fair nomination process of judicial officers, which is sufficiently insulated from political interference and which is aimed at ensuring impartiality and integrity; security of tenure and remuneration and impunity from the prosecution for the content of judgements.
However, two of the elements identified by him as vital to an independent judiciary have not been resolved yet in South Africa, firstly, administrative and budget autonomy. The establishment of the Office of the Chief Justice as a separate government department was, at the time, seen as a step in the direction of establishing administrative and budget autonomy for the judiciary. During the
Fifth Parliament, however, this issue was not, as it should have been, settled. For all intents and purposes, we had a stand-off between the executive and the judiciary on this issue. Minister, unfortunately, if one thinks about your predecessor and how he dealt with this issue the following words come to mind: Obstruction, obfuscation, avoidance and retardation. Of course he was assisted, and not really in an able manner, might I add, by his Deputy, who is now, of course, your Deputy. To shed some light on his woeful record as part of the executive of the Fifth Parliament, let me remind this House what the Chief Justice said in November 2014 at Unisa. He said at the time that the judiciary was confronted with unbelievable resistance from the executive which this Deputy Minister was part of, a "hostile fight" to keep the Office of the Chief Justice a satellite office of the Department of Justice.
So, while this Deputy Minister thinks this debate is about contributions in the Fifth Parliament and found time to evaluate mine, let me assure him that I am very glad that my legacy from the Fifth Parliament does not include attempts to resist and frustrate judicial independence. [Applause.] This is, of course, an addition to him coming out; a week after the Constitutional Court held ... [Interjections.]