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Heido~g Village
Priva% Bog X 1 9
sonwrwt west
7129
23 January
1 996
The Secretariat
of Assembly
P 0 Box 15
CAPE
TOWN
Dear Sir*
I should like to make suggestions and comments
on two a~u of dw new con n. The position and powers of the hood of state and
openness
in mm area of governnwnt.
The F~ of Start*
I
should prefer the office of the hood of @to to be a non-executive one, as it was
before the 1 983 (?) trican-mral constitution b
was put into effect. So that ~
office
be seen to be apolitical, the inct mbent should be ted by a body
representative of the people of the countr @. It should " mode up
of indu
business people, financiere, teachers at &I level* of education, lawyers,
politicians etc. etc. The non-executive head
of staa should be advised by a
council, Mw broadly representative of the people of tt a country.
If Cm
view prevails that the office of the h oad of state should be an executive,
and
~*fore a political one, one area in whict I fool that it is quire
un for dw
incumbent to be involved and should not be
involved, even to giving approval, is in the appointment of people to
non-pplitical positions, og judges, univ chancellors, vice-chancellors
and
principle a and rectors, and members of Cm boards or councils of public bodies
such as the Constitutional and Appeal Courts,
Cm I dent Broadcasting
Administration and the S.A. Broadcasting (end of P"e
1) Corporation and state
industries such as lscor, Trananat wW Teikom.
Appointments to such positions
should bc i made by panels composed of a
normnated, by relevant bodies - the
mec haniame by which these are
appointed and for determining panels' torons
of reference would clearly need to be
d~od. However, to ensure that the
coM process is &con to be as of W possible, M politicians, from the head of
auto downwards,
should be involved except, pw~, in their personal capacities
only. We should avoid at a# coats type of debacle which occurred in
connection
with appointments to @ present
board of the S.A.B.C. Suitably constituted
panels should ensure that the
q"intments they make will meat with
broad approval of the people of
the
country.
-2-
O"Mmm in
Government
Much hat been mode of the need for openness in government.
However, one area in which this hat not been practice as widely as is desirable
is in the a"int~t of mm~* of bodies and councils of public bodies. A recent
oxw"io was appointment of members of either the Constitutional
or Appeal Court
where d*UN* of all candid&%* are parts of the proc@inge were not as widely
&vain~ to Ow public to they should
have boon.
it should be written
into the constitution that IQ the relevant details of activities of this kind
should always be available to the public in *v" possible way, except wW
only when @ security of the state is in 4uestion, and this should be eWmM~
i
endy of the appointment panel concerned. It should be 0~ expkc* in the
constitution that no appointment panel of the kind dealt
with hare shoum have
the power to impose any restrictions on access by @ public to the information
presented to it or to its proceedings,
except when state security is involved
and subject to the some above (end of page 2) proviso. it dwuid further be *Mod
that such
an appointment panel has a duty to ensure that the public at large,
includi% all the news media, hat unrestricted access to its information
and
Proceedings and to its report on the proceedings.
I trust that the
Assembly will find these suggestions and comments of wm help in its
dei"rodons.
Yours faithfully
Mr H.M. Cook*
Copy to : Mr
C Egiin
Democratic Party
Houses of Parliament
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