A dangerous portent
TREVOR MANUEL: Why Mkhwebane's order exposes more than her ignorance
Making a scapegoat of the Reserve Bank for SA’s economic ills masks the real culprit — the state’s incapacity and corruption
The thing that has been missing in the backlash over the public protector’s instruction to parliament that it alter the Reserve Bank’s constitutional mandate, has been any recognition that the constitution is not just a technical document — it is fundamentally political. It exists as a compact between the apartheid past and the present. For this reason, its drafters set the bar that prevents changes to the constitution relatively high. This is why constitutional amendments require the support of a two-thirds majority in parliament. Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has also shown scant regard for the process that should be followed when an amendment is proposed — which suggests that she fails to understand the limitation of her responsibilities. After the adoption of the constitution on May 8, 1996, each subsequent amendment was introduced by a member of the executive, usually the minister of justice, who would then convene a constitutional committee of parliament. There was an ac...
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