When recommending him, Jeff Radebe, the justice minister, argued that the Ginwala report's criticism was irrelevant.

ECONOMIST: The ruling party would prefer more malleable judges

"They had been engaged in the process from 18 months to two years of discussion with government and management and now, suddenly, they present memoranda and say you have got 14 days to come to an agreement with our demands otherwise we are going to go out on strike, " Ian Phillips, a special adviser to Public Enterprises Minister Jeff Radebe, told the BBC's World Business Report.

BBC: South African unions claim strike success