This book chronicles the progress and outcomes of public interest litigation that has become known as ‘the Glenister trilogy’. It is unusual for a single litigant to take an issue all the way to the Constitutional Court and it is unique to do so three times, with mixed results. A Johannesburg businessman, Bob Glenister, was the applicant in three cases aimed at countering corruption that all ended on appeal in the Constitutional Court. He was ably abetted at times by the Helen Suzman Foundation, first as a friend of the court (amicus curiae) and then as a co-litigant.

The authors are all lawyers who played a role in the litigation and concomitant advocacy at various stages. Their perspectives, given in chronologically arranged chapters, reflect on the triumphs and disasters that befell the campaign to ensure effective and efficient anti-corruption machinery of state in South Africa.

Appendices reflect the continuation of the struggle to achieve compliance with UN Sustainable Development Goal 16 which requires strong institutions of government. Advocacy of the reforms needed to give full expression to the outcome of the litigation has taken the form of lobbying for change since the litigation ended in 2014. If the lobbying does not succeed it may become necessary to litigate again. The report of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture illustrates the need for radical reform of the criminal justice administration of South Africa as it reflects a dire situation that has worsened since 2014.

Contributors:

• Kevin Louis is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa. He practiced in Johannesburg in the firm Wertheim Becker and was attorney of record for Bob Glenister in the first two cases that were litigated to the highest level.
• Peter Leon, at the time a senior partner of the international law firm Webber Wentzel, based in its Johannesburg office, acted for the Helen Suzman Foundation in the second and third case. He also presented argument to Parliament resisting the disbandment of the Directorate of Special Operations or Scorpions as they were popularly known.
• Willie Viljoen was a senior member of the Scorpions and led the Concerned Members Group of the National Prosecuting Authority with Hayley Slingers in making representations to Parliament in favour of the preservation of the Scorpions, an anti-corruption unit within the NPA with investigative and prosecutorial functions. Willie lives in retirement in Stellenbosch. He joined the Cape Bar after the Scorpions met their demise and has gone on to grace the bench of the Western Cape High Court.
• Peter Hazell SC was a member of the Cape Bar who was briefed by Kevin Louis to act for Bob Glenister (as junior to Paul Hoffman SC) in his second and most successful case which ended in victory on 17 March 2011.
• Paul Hoffman SC is a former member of the Cape Bar and a director of Accountability Now. He acted as senior counsel for Bob Glenister in the second and third case and was counsel for the amicus curiae, The Centre for Constitutional Rights, in the first case. Accountability Now is an NGO which advocates reform of the criminal justice administration to achieve proper compliance with the criteria laid down in the second Glenister case.
• Madri du Plessis was an attorney practising with Coopers, a Cape Town firm of attorneys, when she took on the role of attorney of record in the third Glenister case. She has drafted suggested remedial legislation designed to enhance the capacity of the criminal justice administration to counter serious corruption.
• Guy Lloyd Roberts is a former member of the Cape Bar and is also a director of Accountability Now. He acted as junior counsel in the third Glenister case.
• Izak Smuts SC is a senior member of the Grahamstown Bar and a former Vice Chair of the General Council of the Bar in South Africa. He led team Glenister in the third case to make its way to the Constitutional Court.
• Max du Plessis SC is both a professor of public law at the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a senior member of the Bar. He acted as junior counsel for the amicus curiae in the second Glenister case.
• David Unterhalter is now a judge in the Gauteng High Court who has acted in the Constitutional Court. He led the team for the Helen Suzman Foundation in the second Glenister case and in its own application heard with the third Glenister case in his capacity as a senior member of the Johannesburg Bar.
• Andreas Coutsoudes is an advocate who acted as junior counsel for the Helen Suzman Foundation in its matter, heard simultaneously with the third Glenister case.

All of the authors are indebted to Justice Johann Kriegler for the graceful and generous foreword to this book.