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South African Constitution - Doc

   

Added on  2021-05-31

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Running head: SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTION South African ConstitutionName of the studentName of the StudentAuthor Note

1SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTIONAccountability of South African PresidentThe Constitution of South Africa gives inherent powers to the President to carry out allfunctions in accordance with the letter and spirit of the holy text. The President is called theHead of the State and under Article 83 of the Constitution the President is also the head of theexecutive. The Constitution by its words gives supreme powers to the President to uphold thedignity of the Republic. The Constitution is the supreme law of the Republic which gives powerto the President to act like the Head of the State and act in the best interest of the State (Butler2017). The President has to promote unity of the nation and shall act in accordance with the bestinterest of the public. Article 84 lays down the powers and functions of the President which aremandatory to carry out the functions of being the Head of the State. The powers andresponsibilities of the President are multifarious. South Africa being a democracy there isseparation of power and the President is accountable to the National Assembly. The NationalAssembly has the power to elect the President and also remove him. Measures to keep a check on the PresidentAccording to Article 75 of the Constitution, the President shall enjoy the executivepowers. All executive functions shall be carried out by the President. All legislative functionsthat fall within the competence of the Parliament shall be vested in the president. He shall act inaccordance with the principles as enshrined in the Constitution (Gyimah-Boadi 2015). TheConstitution mandates the President to be responsible, accountable and open to all therequirements of the Constitution. The President is under a social obligation to respect theConstitution and uphold the elements of participatory democracy. The President has to beaccountable for the functioning of the democracy. The Parliament while holding the President

2SOUTH AFRICAN CONSTITUTIONaccountable has to ensure that all the values are respected by him. In cases when the Presidentdisrespects the Constitution, the people retort. This is the way a democracy functions, where thePresident is made to answer in cases of failure of the justice system (Fombad 2016). Court Judgment In the case of Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker, National Assembly andOthers2016 (3) SA 580 (CC); 2016 (5) BCLR 618 (CC), the duty of the President to uphold,defend and respect the Constitution was decided. On the directions of the Department of PublicWorks, the President’s home underwent certain up gradations in the Nkandla homestead. Theupgradation was very extensive and included more than security measures. The publiccomplained and as a result, the public prosecutor launched an enquiry into the homestead (Sisk2016). The National Treasury was involved in the assessment of the total cost of the measuresthat were implemented by the president, pay a reasonable percentage of the cost. The Ministerswere also booked in the investigation and they were reprimanded for being involved in the upgradation project. The National Assembly had to make the remarks and had to report to thepublic prosecutor’s report within a timeframe of 14 days. The National Assembly convenientlyanswered to the report but did not answer any other query. The president was not even asked topay the reasonable cost that was attached with the up gradation. The President by not replying tothe report of the NA, was not even called for breach of his duty. The National Assemblyabsolved him of all the liabilities. The President acted in breach of his constitutional obligations.The NA was accountable for holding the President responsible. The NA acted in violation of itsduties. Therefore, the act of the National Assembly exonerating the President from all his dutieswas unconstitutional and against the principles of fairness. The powers exercised by NA to keepa check on the actions of the President have been effective so far.

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