Constitucionalismo na Africa do Sul

ComparativeConstitutions.org

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Troubling South African Chief Justice Nomination

Posted: 30 Aug 2011 04:02 PM PDT


South African President Jacob Zuma has nominated the most conservative
Justice on the South African Constitutional Court to be Chief Justice.
Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng unfortunately has a troubling record to lead a
Court that is supposed to bring about transformation in the nation. He
issued a decision as a lower court judge that substantially removed the
jail punishment of a man, who had tied a woman up to the back of a truck
and dragged her through the streets at high speed. According to a news
report, the judge said the man was provoked by the woman. He is a member
of a church that is strongly anti-gay in a country with a constitutional
provision precluding discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
There are other troubling signs as well including substantive criticism
from several bar groups. Hopefully it is not too late to prevent his
ascendancy. This is another sign of the tensions between President Zuma
and the Court's more transformative members.