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.
Articles By This Author
Preserving the IDAC in any way would be a mistake
Many admirable sentiments are expressed in the DM opinion piece penned by Xola Nqola, an ANC MP, who is chair of the justice portfolio committee in the National Assembly. However, he misses the mark by a country mile; here’s why.
Elections are a matter of perspective
That self-effacing “humble newspaperman”, Mondli Makhanya, has outdone himself by penning a couple of choice phrases in his predictions for the ANC’s fortunes in the upcoming municipal elections.
Really, professors?
Professor Pierre de Vos is a professor of constitutional law at UCT. He occupies the Claude Leon chair at that august institution. Jonny Steinberg was a professor of African Studies at Oxford for nine years.
Is the repeal of the IDAC legislation really feasible?
The Chief Whip of the DA, Glynnis Breytenbach has let it be know that she intends to pilot a private member’s bill, what she calls a “PMB” through parliament aimed at achieving the repeal of the IDAC legislation which was brought onto the statute book after the president signed it into law in May 2024, shortly before the general elections held in that month.
It is time to scrap IDAC because it is a constitutional abomination
The good reason for closing down IDAC is not the resignation of its leader and her underwhelming showing at the Madlanga Commission. It is that IDAC is not a constitutionally compliant body and has none of the qualities required of it by the rulings of the Constitutional Court. Our anti-corruption machinery of state will not function properly unless and until parliament passes legislation that gives effect to what it was ordered to do in the Glenister litigation.
Resolve Communications and the alleged conflicts of interest
The media in SA has been abuzz with stories concerning the probity of the relationship between DA members of cabinet (and latterly) of parliament on the one side and Resolve Communications (and its secure-SIM-card-preoccupied clients) on the other.
Corruption is coming for your job … if it hasn’t destroyed it already
For ordinary South Africans, especially those who are unemployed or under-employed, jobs, personal security and corruption are polled as among their main preoccupations. Of the three, corruption is pre-eminent, because it is pivotal to jobs and security.
Caligula’s contribution to constitutional democracy
According to legend, the Roman emperor Caligula decided to appoint his horse, a magnificent Spanish stallion called Incitatus, as proconsul during a particularly trying time around the dawn of the Christian era.
Pule in the cabinet, Ramaphosa’s proposals to counter corruption in ruins
Dinah Pule was in the Zuma cabinet, but lost her position in politics over scandals around abuse of public funds on foreign travel with her
SA needs single independent entity to hunt down the corrupt
The Madlanga Commission and the related parliamentary ad hoc committee are nearing completion: what should emerge?