Home affairs minister Aaron Motsoaledi and his director-general Tommy Makhode were personally slapped with the costs of litigation by the Constitutional Court this week. And rightly so.
In 2017, the apex court ordered changes to the Immigration Act, because provisions dealing with detainment of illegal foreigners were cruel and unconstitutional. The court gave the government two years to remedy this and amend the law, but the government did not do so and the order lapsed.
In 2022, the department attempted to revive that lapsed order to get the two-year clock ticking again, but the Constitutional Court was not having it.
Justice Steven Majiedt did not hold back. “It is difficult to conceive of a more egregious instance of neglect of a constitutional duty in the sphere of enacting corrective legislation,” he wrote for a unanimous court.
The court ordered the minister and his director-general to personally pay for the cost of litigation because of “gross disregard for their professional responsibilities”. Though the minister was unaware of the litigation, he is still ultimately responsible for the department.
The judgment is not only a victory for human rights and the rule of law in SA, but prevented taxpayers from footing the bill for the litigation, which the court pointed out had been “conducted in a dreadful manner” and with “deplorable lethargy”. This should happen more.
Government officials often bring litigation because they have an infinite war chest of taxpayer money - litigation they would never bring if they themselves were paying.
This should not be allowed.
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