Courts and South Africa Democracy
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in South Africa has asked the National Prosecuting Agency to revisit the 2009 decision to suspend criminal charges against President Jacob Zuma. There has been a two-sided debate on this issue: the African National Congress (ANC) is rather unhappy with the SCA because this event exemplifies how easily democracy can be undermined. On the other hand, the Democratic Alliance (DA), who was the first appellant of this case, views this as an example of overcoming political pressure to reach transparency in the system.
There can be two opposing ways to look at this. I can see how this can easily be seen as promoting democracy in South Africa. Instead of passively accepting court decisions, the DA has stood up and voiced its concerns on how legitimate the court decision was. The SCA’s acceptance to further investigate the case shows how the court is willing to withstand political pressure and revisit a case at request.
However, I can also view this as a reflection of the typical faulty character of democracy. Democratic systems we have today tend to be filled with bureaucracy and red tape, and the plurality of ideas and voices tend to slow the democratic process down. With the return to this court case, the South African courts will have to spend hours to assess the decision that had previously been made – this could just be an annoying deviation from allowing the courts to continue on with their agenda and decision-making. How much of the South African population supports this DA request? Is there even a consensus? The DA may seem like the ‘good guy’ compared to the ANC, but we have to find out how the DA works and if the people support it.
Nonetheless, I think that the DA is trying its best to have the interests of the South African people at its heart. It is emphasizing that nobody is above the law – even high-powered politicians, such as Zuma. The DA is reminding us that democracy gives us the means to question and address anything that might seem unjust, and, by doing this, it is strengthening the democratic ideals and values in South Africa.
