Zimbabwe Rule of Law Journal |43 rule of law.29 As a starting point, judicial independence was one of the concepts associated with the separation of powers doctrine in the writings of the French jurist, Montesquieu in the second half of the 18th century.30 The basic importance of judicial independence is that it is a balancing power on the exercise of power by the other two arms of government, namely the executive and the legislature.31 In principle this means that some constitutional guarantees and safeguards are important to protect the judiciary from interference by the executive. In that regard the words of Judge ‘O’ Linn in the Namibian case of S v Heita are most apposite. The learned judge stated that “… the judiciary has no defence force or police force. They are not politicians. They cannot descend to the arena to defend themselves….precisely because they cannot protect themselves, unscrupulous persons may exploit this weakness by scandalising the court…” 32 At the international level, judicial independence has been recognised in many instruments, and the emphasis has been on the need for competent, independent and impartial tribunals or courts.33 Further, judicial independence has been characterised as having two components or two separate pillars, namely institutional independence and individual independence.34 It manifests itself through several essential criteria that include security of tenure, integrity, impartial judicial appointments and dismissal mechanisms as well as ability of the judiciary to manage its own budget and administration of the Independence Suffice” (2014) PER/PELJ (17) 1. 29 J. Ferejohn “Dynamics of Judicial Independence: Independent Judges, Dependent Judiciary” (November, 1998) 7; http:// www.usc.edu/dept/law/symposia/judicial/pdf/ferejohn.pdf, accessed 2 November 2015 30 See generally O.C Ruppel “The role of the Executive in Safeguarding the Independence of the Judiciary in Namibia” (2008) http://www.kas.de/upload/auslandshomepages/namibia/Independence_Judiciary/ruppel.pdf, accessed 2 November 2015 31 N. Horn and A Bosl (ed) “The Independence of the Judiciary in Namibia” (2008) 10 Konrad Adenauer Foundation, Macmillan Educational Namibia 32 S v Heita (1992) 3 SA 785 (NmHC) 33 See Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 and Article 7 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The treaties recognise the right of every person to equality and to a fair and public hearing by an independent, competent and impartial tribunal or judiciary established by law. 34 International Bar Association “Beyond Polokwane: Safeguarding South Africa’s Judicial Independence” (July 2008) 20; http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=B2397A56-9D7C-4990-9B57-2749409604A5; accessed 3 November 2015; also see generally the words of Justice Parker in Jacob Alexander v The Minister of Justice and others (Unreported case) HC of Namibia Case No. A210/2007 and Value 1 of The Bangalore Principles of Judicial Conduct, 2002.