Daniel v President of the Republic of South Africa and Others

The applicant, Mr Frederick Coenrad Daniel, sought rescission of an earlier Constitutional Court order that had dismissed his application concerning the President’s failure to appoint an independent Commission of Inquiry. In the original application (CCT 106/12), Daniel asked the Court to declare that the President’s failure to appoint a commission was unconstitutional and to compel the President to establish such a commission. The Constitutional Court dismissed that application on the basis that granting direct access was not in the interests of justice. Daniel then applied for rescission, arguing that the dismissal order was erroneously granted because, in his view, the matter fell within the Constitutional Court’s exclusive jurisdiction under section 167(4)(e) of the Constitution.

The application for rescission was dismissed. No further relief was granted.

The case clarifies the narrow scope of the Constitutional Court’s exclusive jurisdiction under section 167(4)(e) of the Constitution and reinforces that the President’s power to appoint commissions of inquiry under section 84(2)(f) is discretionary. It also confirms the limited circumstances in which the Constitutional Court may rescind its own final orders under Rule 42.