The Constitutional Court judgment on Nkandla was meant as a lecture on what kind of President the country hoped for, former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke said during his book launch on Saturday at the Apartheid Museum, notes a New24 report. ‘It was a wonderful moment to lecture each other about the kind of society that we wanted to create and the kind of commander-in-chief that we hoped for.’

Moseneke told those at the launch of My Own Liberator that the Nkandla judgment was an opportunity presented to the Constitutional Court to educate South Africans on public power as well as the Constitution. ‘The Nkandla moment presented that opportunity to interact with our people and to tell them about the legal, constitutional and normative underpinning of public power and why we are duty bound to deploy it honestly, effectively in order to produce good outcomes and to produce a just society.’

Full News24 report

At the same function, former Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs called on the judiciary to play a refereeing role and not an administrative one. Sachs said he was concerned that courts were being saturated with cases because state organs were not functioning properly, notes an SABC News report. He said more and more cases would be referred to the Constitutional Court if Parliament failed to hold government officials accountable. ‘If Parliament is doing its job and holding the executive accountable, speaking out, questioning, supervising as the Constitution requires, then people don't run to court. The courts are just the back up. Just look at the Nkandla decision. The judicial intervention didn't frustrate Parliament – it liberated Parliament.’

Full SABC News report