Public admin laws breached: Expert

The Constitutional principles prescribing how public administration must be governed are breached every day, the Institute for Accountability in Southern Africa (IFAISA) said on Wednesday.

   

"The Constitution is supreme; laws and conduct inconsistent with it are invalid..." IFAISA director Paul Hoffman said at a Free Market Foundation briefing in Johannesburg.

   

Section 195 of the Constitution listed nine principles which applied to public administration in all spheres of government and parastatals.

   

"These are honoured and breached every day in South Africa," he said.

   

One of the problems was that many public servants were appointed through the cadre deployment system.

   

Hoffman said no political party actually ruled the country as the Constitution was supreme.

   

"Parliamentarians and politicians cannot do what they like.... [They] cannot do what is inconsistent with the Constitution and neither can you and I."

   

-Sapa