Stand up for the Constitution

The most grievous damage inflicted by the ANC's leadership struggle is the growing political contamination of our legal system.

President Thabo Mbeki's opponents accuse him of using South Africa's law enforcement agencies to shore up his leadership -- his intervention in the Scorpions' planned arrest of police chief Jackie Selebi puts the matter beyond doubt. But supporters of Jacob Zuma who level this accusation are just as tainted.

This week Julius Malema made the outrageous threat that he and his fellow hooligans in the ANC Youth League are prepared to kill to prevent Zuma coming to trial. Their only motivation for this is the length of time it has taken to bring Zuma to trial -- when Zuma's systematic blocking tactic at every level of the court system is the main reason for the delay. It does not matter how long the judicial process lasts: if he has broken the law, he must face the music.

But the central point is that it is not for the ANC Youth League or any other political grouping to decide the ANC president's guilt or innocence -- that is the constitutionally determined job of the judiciary.

Someone really needs to send the young pussycats on a course in constitutionalism. Malema sounded completely flummoxed at the concept of separation of powers and constitutionalism when quizzed this week. This is not surprising since education was not his strong point while at school. His speciality is disruption, not dialogue.

Underlying Malema's childish outburst is the idea that the ANC, as the embodiment of the people's will, is the supreme power in the land. There is no understanding that the Constitution is supreme, that South Africa is a constitutional state with an independent judicial system, which is insulated from political influence by the beautiful doctrine of a separation of powers.

And Malema is not alone. As we report this week, there is widespread support for him in the ANC among those who believe that their desire for Zuma to become South Africa's next president is far more important than the Constitution and its values.

Then there is the case of Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, accused by the full Bench of the Constitutional Court of trying to lobby two of its judges in Zuma's favour. Hlophe's guilt must still be decided by the Judicial Services Commission, but the court's complaint quotes him as talking of his "mandate" -- presumably political mandate -- and connections in the intelligence establishment. Let there be no doubt: if politicians and spooks start to lean on the highest court in the land, ordinary South Africans will be in the deepest possible trouble. Such interference raises the spectre of sectional political interests and vendettas shaping our fundamental law.

Freedom and constitutionalism don't disappear overnight. They are eroded by the rhetoric of intolerance, by ignorance and by apathy. Let us, as citizens, not be apathetic and speak up for the nation's founding document.

Nightmare for the net-set

Not being able to buy the Nightmare on Elm Street seven-disc box set from Amazon.com might not constitute the tipping point of civilisation, but the online store's decision to quit deliveries to South Africa could mean that our days as net-set shoppers are numbered.

Amazon announced this week that it will no longer send books, CDs and DVDs to South African customers without imposing a penalty surcharge that costs more than the product because so many of them go AWOL in transit.

So in the words of Amazon's order tracking service, Where's My Stuff?

Amazon blames rampant theft among South African post office workers plus local chancers who receive the goods they ordered, tell Amazon they didn't, then get sent a free replacement. The South African post office retorts that the only parcels it can be accountable for are ones with a tracking number issued by it. Which pretty much cuts out guaranteed delivery of a purchase from any online source that has its own shipping service.

At a time of economic and political instability in our country when many are holding on and rolling with the punches, the theft of books and the consequent closing down of the "local branch" of the bookstore might seem trivial. Amazon's decision is a single -- arguably insignificant -- act of isolation. Yet it is one that harks back to a grim period in this country's history when South Africans were kept away from global trends and stimulating ideas in a way that did not serve us well as we were forced to turn inward. Amazon has made a reasonable business decision and our world -- this time for very different reasons -- just got a little bit smaller.

On the upside Amazon's service in the US extends to penitentiaries, though they "strongly suggest you contact the prison first to confirm that they accept deliveries". Perhaps in future DVDs and so on could be re-routed to the Department of Correctional Services for collection. Customers picking up their latest pile of Dan Brown thrillers could be DNA swabbed at the same time.