Interdependence Versus Checks and Balances of Power: A Reflection on the Role of Constitutional Court in South Africa

Abstract

Under the apartheid regime in South Africa, the adopted Westminster model of governance allowed for parliamentary sovereignty with no clear separation between the branches of government. With the birth of democracy, there is textual division of state power between the Legislature, Judiciary and Executive in the resultant 1996 Constitution. Whether or not the main end of this division is to achieve interdependence of the executive, legislature and judiciary that allows the branches of government to be complementary as well as serve as checks and balances on one another merits an examination. This contribution argues that there exists interdependence in the functioning of different arms of government in the democratic dispensation that allows the branches of government to be inter-reliant. While reflecting on judicial interventions by the Constitutional Court, it demonstrates that the interdependent relationship does not foreclose the arms of government from checks and balances of power in South Africa.