Africa-Press – South-Africa. Tourism Minister Lindiwe Sisulu says she will not stop exercising her right to freely express herself on pressing matters affecting the nation, according to her office.
This, after the minister repeated an attack on the judiciary during a speech at Unisa on Tuesday.
Sisulu’s office was also adamant her sentiments were received with support from those who share her views on the need to transform the Constitution, her spokesperson Steve Motale told News24 on Wednesday.
When asked whether she was concerned about public outrage, Motale said:
“Her speech at Unisa was well received and her candour well appreciated by the audience.”
“She has indicated, on numerous occasions, the importance of the right to freedom of expression, a precious civil liberty that many, including herself, fought so hard for,” Motale added.
During the keynote address on the commemoration of Youth Day at the College of Law at Unisa, Sisulu said “the judiciary is not untouchable, and the South African Constitution is not a holy script”.
Sisulu also denied that she had apologised to President Cyril Ramaphosa for an opinion article in January in which she attacked “mentally colonised” judges.
She went on to say that “evidence suggests the judiciary may be in cahoots with the elite against the very people it should be defending; the problem with the judiciary is it hasn’t been above the fray where it should have been”.
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Sisulu was in hot water for similar utterances, which the Presidency described as “recklessness of the highest order” in January.
Despite this strong condemnation, Sisulu directed her criticism at Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, particularly for his findings in his commission’s state capture reports.
Sisulu said:
While she hasn’t officially thrown in her hat to contest Ramaphosa for the party presidency in the upcoming December elective conference, she hinted that she might consider taking a shot at it.
She said it was never her “wish for our constitutional democracy to be abolished, as some in ignorance and obduracy have labelled my legitimate quest”.
“I want our Constitution to be transformed so that it not only accommodates our people’s desire for justice and full dignity, but our people’s right to justice and full dignity.
“This must be not only the Constitution’s intent but also the Constitution’s daily workings,” she said.
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