African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma said yesterday SA's judicial authority was "vested in the courts", and that a decision of a court was binding on all, writes Karima Brown. Picture: Martin Rhodes. 

African National Congress (ANC) president Jacob Zuma yesterday said SA's judicial authority was "vested in the courts" and that a decision of a court was binding on all.

Zuma's comments come amid calls for a "political solution" to his seven-year legal standoff with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), with some in the ANC arguing that a law should be introduced to shield sitting presidents from prosecution *1, similar to Italian legislation.

But the majority view in the ANC is that this should be a last resort and that an accommodation between Zuma and the NPA be found before he becomes SA's next president. Zuma is the ANC's presidential candidate in the forthcoming elections.

Yesterday, Zuma committed himself and the ANC to the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary, saying that the ANC "is no stranger to human rights and access to justice".

He was addressing a public debate at the University of Johannesburg on justice in SA as calls for charges against him to be dropped grow louder.

He said the judiciary was one of the pillars of a peaceful and stable co-existence and that to destabilise it would mean "we are cutting off our noses to spite our faces".

Some ANC leaders and judges have locked horns over the handling of Zuma's legal troubles, leading to a debate about whether the ANC was trying to "intimidate" the judiciary and whether constitutional democracy was "under threat".

Zuma said it was "unavoidable that tensions would arise between the courts and the executive, and political parties and individuals, given that SA was a developing democracy.

"This calls on us to exercise restraint.

"We must not jump to conclusions on the one hand that there is an attack on the independence of the judiciary, or that the judiciary is useless or failing in its duty on the other hand," he said.

Zuma answered questions from the audience but refused to be drawn on the details of his own case, saying he did not want his comments to be "misread".

He said this in response to questions about the threat of violence from some of his supporters should the courts find him guilty. He called on all parties, including the judiciary, to "step back and reflect on the tensions" *2.

He insisted that robust debate and criticism *3 were a necessary prerequisite of any democracy.

Zuma said the test for criticism of the judiciary had always been that it should be "fair and informed".

In defence of the ANC's right to criticise the judiciary, Zuma quoted the late chief justice, Ismail Mohamed, who said: "Judges must consciously accept the risk that their judgments in crucial areas may be subject to vigorous attack and criticism. *4 This should cause them no distress. A viable and credible constitutional culture evolves most effectively within the crucible of vigorous intellectual combat and even moral examination.

"What they are entitled to, and demand, is that such criticism should be fair and informed, that it must be in good faith, that it does not impugn their dignity or bona fides, and above all it does not impair their independence."

Zuma has to answer to charges of corruption, including tax evasion and racketeering.

On Friday, Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Chris Nicholson will rule in Zuma's application that the charges against him were unlawful because he was not allowed to make representations when he was charged by the state. Whatever the outcome of that application, Zuma will also apply for a permanent stay of prosecution on the grounds that his rights have been so abused that he will not receive a fair trial.

With acknowledgements to Karima Brown and Business Day.