Minister Lamola: Failure to respect Constitution can lead to anarchy & counter-revolution
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Ronald Lamola has warned against attacks on the judiciary.
He also underlined the need for everyone in the country to respect the Constitution and the rule of law.
Kicking off the second day of debate on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address, Lamola said that to allow anything else would lead to anarchy.
The minister said that an independent judiciary was a cornerstone of the country’s democracy.
“Attacks and allegations and conspiracies against the judiciary can erode the confidence of society in the judiciary if not followed up with facts and conclusive investigations. There must not be spurious allegations against the judiciary.
“There is nothing wrong with giving forthright criticism against judgements and decisions of the judiciary, but it must be informed by facts and not conspiracies.”
Lamola was responding to Economic Freedom Fighters’ leader Julius Malema.
Malema on Tuesday accused certain unnamed judges of taking bribes from white business interests and warned of an “uprising” if judges colluded with politicians to “deal with their opponents”.
The minister also warned that a failure to respect the Constitution and the rule of law could “lead to anarchy and open the floodgates to a counter-revolution”.
While he did not refer to Zuma by name, Lamola’s comments come after the former president on Monday snubbed the state capture inquiry by deciding not to appear before it, in spite of a Constitutional Court order that he do so.
-EWN
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