In response to the critical position in especially the Gauteng Division of the High Court, a suggestion has been made to second judges from other provinces and temporarily appointing acting judges beyond the judicial establishment.
These were among the recommendations made by the online judicial watchdog group Judges Matter, which focuses on the appointments process of judges and provides insight into the Judicial Service Commission’s (JSC’s) structure and processes.
Independent Media recently reported on the crisis at especially the Pretoria arm of the Gauteng Division, with the result that litigants who are launching civil trials will have to wait until January 2029 before they will receive a trial date.
This is due to too much work and too few judges.
The Pretoria Attorneys Association has raised its concerns in this regard in written submissions made to a committee investigating these problems, in a bid to find a solution to the crisis.
Adding its voice, Judges Matter has also made a submission to the Moseneke Committee’s report on the judicial establishment (which includes the number of judges needed for the courts).
Judges Matter’s submission was in response to the recommendations made in an initial draft of the phase 2 report of the Moseneke Committee’s work on the high court rationalisation process.
It drew attention to the need to increase the number of judges and the current crisis in the courts, as well as the need for urgent interim measures.
For several years, Judges Matter has highlighted the shortage of judges across South Africa’s judiciary.
“We drew attention to the issue in the Labour Court, the Competition Appeal Court, the Electoral Court, and broadly at all levels of the court system. The Gauteng High Court has reached a crisis point, with trial dates now being issued from the first term of 2029,” the online group said.
It said that in 2021 the justice minister established a committee to address this problem. The committee, among others, will recommend that the jurisdictional boundaries of the high courts be redrawn, and they will determine how many more judges are needed in the judicial establishment.
This committee is chaired by retired former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke and has three other members - retired Deputy Judge President Jeanette Traverso, retired Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Silas Ramaite, and retired Chief Magistrate Renuka Subban.
The Moseneke Committee released its initial report on rationalisation in July last year. Judges Matter said that some of its most groundbreaking recommendations include moving the seat of the Eastern Cape High Court from Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) to Bhisho and the establishment of new high court seats in Richards Bay, Rustenburg, Upington, Welkom, Thembalethu in George, Western Cape, and Palm Ridge in Ekurhuleni, Gauteng.
In June this year the Moseneke Committee released its initial report on judicial establishments. While the report highlighted the workload pressures on judges as a result of population and economic growth, it stopped short of making concrete recommendations on the exact number of judges needed due to a lack of comprehensive data on case loads, Judges Matter said.
“The report, therefore, recommended mandatory uniform data collection towards establishing a case-weighting system. In addition, the Moseneke Committee recommended that a new policy on acting judges be developed, together with the abolishment of recess periods for judges, and a requirement that judges record the hours spent at work.”
Judges Matter’s latest submission responded to these issues.
“Most significantly, our submission proposes interim measures to deal with the crisis in our courts, particularly in Gauteng. Our recommendations include seconding judges from other provinces and temporarily appointing acting judges beyond the judicial establishment.”