As an experienced political analyst of current South African political developments, it is surprising to read Steven Friedman’s argument about the danger of "judicial overreach" (Judges’ overreach is threat to democracy, May 17). His argument would be valid if the South African government, its executive structures and state-owned enterprises were untainted by corruption, maladministration and governance failures. Since this evidently is not the case, and in the context of Parliament’s utter failure to hold the executive to account, it is left to the courts to safeguard the constitutional integrity of the South African political system. As the constitutional legal scholar John Hart Ely pointed out in his landmark text on the role of judicial review (Democracy and Distrust, 1980) the role of the courts is not to undermine or replace democratic politics but to ensure that the executive and the elected representatives of the people act in accordance with the constitutional values of ope...
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