APPELLATE division justice Oliver Schreiner was famously called “the greatest chief justice South Africa never had”. This term has now been used to describe deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, who retired from the constitutional court last week.President Jacob Zuma has never definitively answered why he twice overlooked Moseneke for chief justice — the obvious choice in so many ways.His resumé is a glittering one: Moseneke spent 10 years as a prisoner on Robben Island during the liberation struggle, completing his undergraduate and LLB degrees on the island. He became part of the team that drafted the country’s new constitution and played a key role in the first democratic elections, as deputy chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission.Some think Zuma disliked Moseneke because of his perceived closeness to Thabo Mbeki. But many think that, like Schreiner, Moseneke lost out because of his independent-mindedness and his sometimes blunt assertion of it.At his 60th birthday par...
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