 nation’s founding values fact that the interpretation of this constitution must take into and principles. account international law Section 18.14 (1) (b) provides an opportunity for the requires that the court to consider other positive interpretation of this things about rule of law which constitution must give this constitution may have not effect to the founding captured well or adequately. values in section 3, which include rule of law. Observance of separation of See section (below) on analysis The COPAC draft constitution of how the draft constitution fairly captures the doctrine of powers deals with separation of powers. separation of powers. Judicial independence Section 8.3 directs that the courts must operate independently and subject to the law only. This is a good starting point in terms of guaranteeing the freedom of judges to decide individual cases according to their view of the law Section 8.19 provides for an appointment process whereby the president appoints judges from a list of nominees submitted to him by the Judiciary Services Commission (JSC) after the JSC would have publicly advertised the vacant posts and conducted public interviews. Such an appointment process reduces the chances of the president appointing his loyalists onto the bench and the idea of public advertisement of vacant posts and public interviews introduces transparency in the process of appointing judges. Section 8.21 requires that magistrates be appointed by the JSC and “all the appointments must be made transparently and without favour or prejudice” Where the JSC is independent, then this process of appointing the magistrates reduces the risk of having party loyalists seating in court as magistrates. 21