

Paul Hoffman
Paul Hoffman SC, a native of Johannesburg and a Wits graduate, practised law at the side bar from 1975 to 1980 and at the Cape Bar from 1980 to 2006. He took silk in 1995 and acted on the Cape Bench at the invitation of three successive judges president. After retiring from the Bar, he was founding director of the Centre for Constitutional Rights and co-founder, in 2009, of Accountability Now, both NGOs that promote constitutionalism. He is best known for his work on the irregularities in the arms deals, on the unconstitutionality of the Hawks and on the bread cartel case in which a general class action was developed by the courts. Yoga and long dog-walks on the beaches and mountains around his home in Noordhoek help keep him inspired to seek that elusive better life for all. He is the author of many articles and two books, Confronting the Corrupt, and Countering the Corrupt.
- Total Post (11)
Articles By This Author

Justice is like air and clean water
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Apr 30, 2025
The full quote from which the headline above is taken reads: “Justice is not a luxury, it is something we need like air and clean

Are we living in a BANI country?
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Apr 24, 2025
Janet Jobson is a “merchant of hope”. She has to be because she heads up the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation. She has brought

Renew, Replace and Reform, the three Rs for reviving the ANC’s support
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Apr 19, 2025
The ANC, still the largest party in Parliament but no longer in the majority, has stated publicly that it needs to renew, or it will

Do SA politicians take countering corruption seriously?
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Mar 8, 2025
In the carefully chosen words of the Constitutional Court, “(t)here can be no gainsaying that corruption threatens to fell at the knees virtually everything we

The truth about Busisiwe Mkhwebane
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Nov 18, 2024
In October, former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane resigned her position as an EFF member of parliament to take some “rest”, as she put it. Within

Let your words be matched by your actions to counter corruption, Mr President
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Oct 26, 2024
On 24 September 2024, the United Nations General Assembly was told by President Cyril Ramaphosa, in no uncertain terms, that: “Through dialogue, through respect for

Towards consensus on the way forward for SA on countering the corrupt
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Sep 8, 2024
Corrupt people are the bane of the life of the nation in SA, and indeed anywhere in the world where corruption is as rife as

Cursing and (mis)labelling journalists is not good governance
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Aug 26, 2023
An inquiry by telephone on 18 August 2023 was directed to the Member of the Executive Council for Human Settlements in Gauteng, Lebogang Maile, by

Reforming the criminal justice system to counter corruption: the hard, cold facts
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Aug 12, 2023
The Constitution and the law as interpreted by the Constitutional Court in the Glenister litigation* are clear on what is required of the state to

One swallow does not a summer make
- By Paul Hoffman
- . Aug 21, 2021
Aristotle wrote in his first book of Ethics: ‘One swallow makes no summer, nor does one day’. The day that saw Jacob Zuma incarcerated for civil contempt