Discuss the term “Trias Politica”

Party Politics is Indispensable in the Democratic Dispensation Discuss

Answer
Trias Politica
Within the twenty first century the political system has become more and more complex. The
high levels of intricacy and specialisation have led for a need to maintain an organised
government and system. Society today is filled with free press and interest groups that pressure
and challenge uninformed acts and decisions made by the state. The separation of powers has
been used to keep government up to standards and in check. This is done by dividing the
different authority (powers) held among the various role players. This translates to trias politica
which basically means that the state is divided into different branches, where each branch holds a
specific power or authoritative dependent role. The three divisions of the branches are the
legislature, executives and the judiciary and each have a responsibility. The sole purpose of trias
politica is to separate the powers so that one branches’ power is not in conflict with the other.
This paper seeks to critically discuss trias politica in context to Public Administration in South
Africa and it aims to portray a better understanding of the separation of powers. This will be
achieved by firstly expressing the sole reason why separation of power exists and a formal
distinction is to be made between the three branches followed by contemporary examples where
power has been used or miss-used in South Africa. The paper will then address: the principles of
checks and balances, the relationship each branch has with each other and then finally draw on
the factors outlined in the South African constitution regarding the allocation of officials and
employees within a respective branch.
Trias Politica has many finding fathers but perhaps the French philosopher who goes by the
name of Montesquieu, is credited the most as he was the first to have expressed the formulation
of the doctrine of separation of powers. (Mojapelo, 2013:37). Trias politica is theory that deals
with the separation of powers within government. This separation of power becomes necessary
to ensure that political power is not focussed on, in a single establishment. The doctrine aims to
prevent any abuse of powers in the several domains of government. The different branches
should act within the boundaries laid out in the constitution because in failing to do so, they
would have to answer to the courts who are the custodians of our constitution. Though there is no
actual text in the final South African constitution refereeing to the doctrine of separation of

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power per say, it is still part of our constitution design. The doctrine of separation of powers is
not fixed or rigid and the courts do tend to mould the model into one that best fits South Africa at
the time. (Mojapelo, 2013:39). South Africa seems not to follow the clear cut separation of
powers as other states might do and that sometimes leads to an overlap between the branches.
The three different government branches and political authorities involved with the separation of
powers are divided into legislative, executive and judicial.
Legislators are elected officials who enforce the laws and rules of a country (Erickson, 2014).
The legislative branch has a responsibility of enacting laws and appropriating the money that is
needed by the government in order to operate. (Erickson, 2014). The executive branch refers to
the president, deputy president as well as ministers where all the aforementioned form part of the
South African cabinet. They are tasked with the duty of allocating funds to various state
departments. “The executive branch in the current South African constitution has both judicial
and legislative power and is not at all systematically separated from the legislature.” (Venter &
Landsberg, 2011:53). The president is the head of the executives and he/she is entrusted with the
powers to perform the functions of the head of state by the constitution and the legislature.
(Venter & Landsberg, 2011:46). The third and final branch of the trias politica is called the
judicial branch. The function of the judicial is to settle disputes that arise and this is done by
looking at what law is present and how it should be put to use. In recent years the court has been
able to attain the function of law-making but obviously not to the extent of the legislature; as a
result this can be seen as one of the limitations under the judicial branch. The sole aim of the
separation of functions is to assure that there is a limit to power(Venter & Landsberg, 2011).
Over the years South Africa has had many cases where there have been problems with the
separation of power between the branches. An example would be the ‘De Lange v Smuts No
order’ where the court held that a member within the executive branch may not be allowed or
given power as an un-cooperative witness to prison. This is due to the fact that the court has the
power to send someone to prison as it is a judicial function and an executive one (Mojapelo,
2013:39). A more relative example is seen from the issues that arose from the National
Assembly meeting in Cape Town on the 21st of August. At the first meeting after general
election, the National Assembly is meant to elect a speaker whose rank is equivalent to a Cabinet
Minister. As the speaker you have certain functions such as: governing over the house and
maintaining order, acting as the spokesperson of the Assembly and acting as the CEO of the

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house (Parliament of South Africa, 2014). Baleka Mbete failed to adhere to all of the above.
She used her authority to call the police to intervene and this is seen as a violation of the
separation of power as she does not have the authority to do so; In addition to this, parliament is
meant to be the place where executives are held accountable for any transgressions and must
answer to them. This becomes difficult when the speaker is affiliated with the same political
party as the executive being questioned, especially in the case of President Jacob Zuma and
Baleka Mbete. South Africa has a history when it comes to the abuse of power. The issue here is
that power tends to be concentrated between legislative and executives and this was the case with
National Party that remained in power for a period of 46 years
All three forms of state branches must be held accountable at some point and this is when the
process of checks and balances function comes into play. The purpose of checks and balances is
to ensure that the three branches of government can control each other internally, this refers to
the checking part. Checks and balances are there to make sure the branches can interact in an
equal and stabilised manner. An example of the check and balance function being exercised
would be of the judiciary reviewing executive conduct and ordinary laws for the compliance with
the constitution and the Bill of Rights. (Mojapelo, 2013:40).
When it comes to the relationship of branches, the separation of power clearly states that
members cannot fall under more than one branch of government. For example a person who is
part of the legislature cannot be part of the executive. The executive should not be making laws
and similarly the legislature should not be executing them. On the other hand this is not the case,
as one will see in the final constitution. Evidentially at the higher levels, it so happens that there
is an overlap as most members of the executives are also members of the legislature (Mojapelo,
2013). This concept also applies to the relationship between the legislature and the judiciary. A
legislature should not be performing the function of a judiciary as goes for the legislature in the
making of laws.
Within the South African constitution there are guidelines to ways each of the different branches
should act. The relationship between the branches and constitution is parallel. The case of
Presidents being executives also means that only members of the National Assembly can run for
the presidency. This means that as soon as a member of the National Assembly gets the
presidency he has to step down as a member of the National Assembly with immediate effect.
Although the president is the head of the executive he can also be fired but this is called

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impeachment in this context. This is done on the basis of the president committing criminal
misconduct or when he/she unable to perform their duties due to illnesses. This is all laid out in
the constitution in chapter 5 (The South African Government, 1996).
Party Politics is Indispensable in the Democratic Dispensation Discuss
The thesis of this piece is that until political parties in opposition are more organized, purposeful
and functioning beyond participating in elections, it is unimaginable and futile to expect
governance to serve as an effective vehicle for development, prosperity and solidarity. In
adumbrating on this thesis, I shall first endeavour to make a case for the existence of opposition
parties.
I am yet to know about a homogeneous society with a determinable common will or common
good of the people. Human beings do not, by nature, have common interests. It is therefore
unthinkable to have a Government that can be said to be representative or reflective of the
interests of all in a given society. Even in ideal societies, with Governments that embody the
interest of the majority, there is always the need to cater for the interests of those whose interests
the Government does not reflect. The need to balance and find a secured common ground for the
interest of the majority and that of the minority is, to my mind, the essence of democracy. The
imperative here is that democracy is opposed to the idea of Government being a herdsman of the
common interests or agendas of the citizens and nationals of a state.
Opposition politics is an integral part of democracy. The future of the African continent depends
on the quality of its opposition, which points up the necessity for opposition parties to see
themselves as representatives of their respective societies with the mandate to: (1) Articulate,
aggregate, hone and communicate the interests, fears, desires and wishes of people to the
Government; (2) Serve as credible alternatives to the Government; (3) Hold governments
accountable, and serving as watchdogs that ensure government functions within the confines of
the law by exposing the likes of corruption, nepotism, and the abuse of power; (4) Stimulate
debates on issues, provide alternative narratives concerning events and issues, generate national
conversations concerning conflicts and engender forensic interrogations of actions of
Government agencies and institutions; and (5) Provide political training and incentive for the
youth to develop interest in politics, and even choose politics as a career.
Being in opposition is as serious and important as being in government. The quality of the
opposition defines the quality of governance and democracy of a country. The opposition as job

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is an all-round-the-clock job, not a part-time or periodic job. Weak, inept, opportunistic and
power hungry opposition is as dangerous to peace and stability as a tyrannical government.
Consider, for example, the case of America — the country that prides itself as the bastion of
democracy — where Donald Trump’s administration is poised to fulfill its electoral promises,
but the opposition is determined to ensure that such promises are not met at the expense of
freedom and justice for all. The negotiations, tradeoffs and, sometimes, wheeling and dealing
that underscore the balancing of the agendas of those whose interests the Administration caters
for and the fears of those outside that circumference highlight the importance of strong, effective
opposition politics. The inverse is the case in Nigeria.
REFERENCE
Erickson, B. (2014). SEPARATION OF POWERS -- AN OVERVIEW. Retrieved from National
Conference of State Legislatures:
http://www.ncsl.org/research/about-state-legislatures/separation-of-powers-an-
overview.aspx
Mojapelo, P. M. (2013). The doctrine of separation of powers. Law Journals, 37-45.
Parliament of South Africa. (2014). National Assembly. Retrieved from Parliament of the
Republic of South Africa: http://www.parliament.gov.za/live/content.php?
Category_ID=26
Venter, A., & Landsberg, C. (2011). Government and politics in South Africa. Johannesburg:
Van Schaik Publishers.