JOHN GI CLARKE: 'The judiciary has granted Ramaphosa ‘war powers’. He needs to use them boldly'
'All judges agreed that Zuma was guilty of gross ‘over-reach’ as head of the executive'
“But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions.”James Madison: The Federalist Papers. 1788. If teachers of law, history and politics ever need a contemporary example of a political situation that approximates to this quote from James Madison (the main author of the US Constitution) they need go no further than President Jacob Zuma. Moreover, if they need an example of “the necessity of auxiliary precautions”, they would need to ...
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