CSL2601-mcq_csl2601_ VERIFIED ANS.

CSL2601 – Questions Indicate whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE by marking 1 for TRUE or 2 for FALSE: 1. In Doctors for Life International v Speaker of the National Assembly and Others 2006 (12) BCLR 1399 (CC), the Court determined that the stage of legislation making at which it can intervene in order to enforce Parliament’s obligation to facilitate public involvement is before the legislative process is complete in order to prevent irreversible and material harm. (1) 2. In June 2015, the Marikana informal settlement community held a protest which resulted in property damages worth R20 million. The leader of the Marikana community, Joseph Makeleni, told News24 that “they want and need basic services”. However, Joseph Makaleni’s pleas on national radio are futile because the national government is never authorised to intervene and assist municipalities when it fails to fulfil an executive obligation. (1) 3. There is no difference between the effect of the term “sphere” and the term “level” of government when referring to the institutional status of local government in terms of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. (1) 4. It is a privilege of Members of Parliament to say anything in Parliament without fear of being held liable in a court of law, and it serves to protect Parliament from outside interference. This means that parliamentary privileges are not subject to judicial review under the new constitutional dispensation. (1) 5. The President may not serve more than two full terms in office, which is ten years, and there is no exception to this rule. (1) CSL2601/101 23 6. The recommendations of the commission of inquiry established by the President in terms of section 84(2) of the 1996 Constitution are binding. Therefore, the President is bound to follow and implement the recommendations made by the Marikana Commission of Inquiry he appointed on 23 August 2012. (1) 7. The constitutional recognition of customary law as a legitimate system of law alongside other legal systems in South Africa means that customary law enjoys equal recognition as a source of law. (1) 8. In President of the Republic of South Africa v South African Football Rugby Union 1999 (10) BCLR 1059 (CC), it was held that under no circumstances at all can the President be called upon to give evidence in court because of the special dignity of the President, his busy schedule and the importance of his work. (1) 9. It would be accurate to state that a country is democratic if elections are held every five years, even if only one political party is allowed to stand in the election. (1) 10. In South African Constitutional Law in Context (2014), the authors quote Sujit Choudhry who describes South Africa as a one-party dominant democracy. Choudhry states that “one of the pathologies of a dominant party democracy is the ‘capturing’ of independent institutions meant to check the exercise of political power by the dominant party, enmeshing them in webs of patronage.” It is therefore accurate to state that an unfortunate implication of this is that there is virtually no separation of state and party in the present South African context. This was evidenced, amongst others, on 12 February 2015 during the State of the Nation Address when Baleka Mbete, the Speaker of Parliament, conducted herself first and foremost as an ANC official who was acting on unexpressed instructions to shield President Zuma from having to answer uncomfortable questions concerning the upgrades to Nkandla. Further evidence is the fact that she ordered EFF and DA members of Parliament to leave Parliament and even instructed the South African Police Service, which forms part of the executive, to physically remove EFF and DA members that evening. (1) 11. In March 2011, the Constitutional Court ruled that the Hawks (the corruption-fighting unit of the South African Police Service) lacked sufficient operational and structural independence to enable them to properly combat corruption. The Court therefore declared that the laws which disbanded the former Scorpions and created the Hawks in their place (the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Act and the South African Police Service Amendment Act) were unconstitutional. In order to rectify this unconstitutionality, the Court drafted a