Abstract:
This article considers the Constitutional Court judgment in the SADC
Tribunal judgment from the perspective of the methodology of international law. The
judgment came to the conclusion that the President’s conduct in participating in the
SADC’s decisions to remove its Tribunal’s jurisdiction over complaints from individuals
was unlawful and unconstitutional. This conclusion was based on two international
law propositions: first, on the proposition that the SADC decisions were in breach of
international law; second, that the decisions of SADC can be imputed to the South African
government. The article shows that the judgment does not apply the methodology of
international law in arriving at these propositions. It argues that in keeping with South
Africa’s reputation as a having an ‘international law-friendly’ framework, our pinnacle
Court should do more to respect the methodology of international law.
