48 | Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal Commenting on the composition of the South African JSC, Magaisa stated that it is a system that says democracy is about majority rule, but it also considers the interests of the minority and recognizes the importance of skills and expertise.49 This is a sober assessment of the position in South Africa, but it does not make the system attractive in any way since it is heavily composed of political players. It defeats the whole purpose of judicial independence and it inevitably raises the risk of political-party based deliberations and decision making. 2.4 Appointment of judges generally Appointment of judicial officers has a great bearing on judicial independence. Theoretically, there are several threats to judicial independence that may be brought about by judicial appointments. Executive controlled judicial appointments processes mostly result in “court packing”. The International Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Fair Trial and Legal Assistance in Africa recommend that an independent body should be entrusted with selection of judicial officers.50 There are a wide variety of judicial appointment mechanisms world-wide that reflect different levels of adherence to the concept of judicial independence.51 In the USA, for example, the President appoints judges whom are then subjected to interrogation by the Senate. During apartheid in South Africa, the courts were packed with political appointees and prosecutors and judges had to follow the direction of the incumbent leaders and deal with enemies of the apartheid regime.52 As stated already, the Latimer House Guidelines makes it clear that constitutional systems should have an appropriate independent process in place for judicial appointments which should be made by a JSC and based on merit,53 while judicial positions are also advertised.54 What this boils down to 49 A. Magaisa “Does the public have a role in Zimbabwe’s new Judicial appointment process?” (July 2014) http://alexmagaisa. com/does/-the-public-have-a-role-in-zimbabwes-new-judicial-appointments-process/, accessed 30 October 2015 50 L.Chiduza op cit note 26 at 376 51 Ginsburg and Garoupa “The Comparative Law and Economics of Judicial Councils” 2008, Berkeley Journal of International Law Vol 27.1.53 quoted by Manyatera and Fombad op cit note 6 at 2 52 J. B Diescho op cit note 1 at 35 53 Principle II of Annex of the Commonwealth (Latimer House) Principles on the Three Branches of Government (2003) and see also Principle 12.3 of the Measures for the Effective Implementation of the Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct (2010) 54 Latimer House Guidelines, 1998