Issued by: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
I have noted yesterday's distorted reports in some of the media that, during my address to the Pretoria Press Club, I came close to describing the Judiciary as being incompetent, in particular the Judges of the Constitutional Court.
I wish to clarify exactly what I said during my address with regard to transformation of the justice system.
I informed the media that my Department was operating with extremely scarce resources and that we need to find ways to use these resources in a more efficient way.
I told reporters that "there was no doubt that there was a tendency in the past to give a disproportionately big slice of the resources available to high profile areas and high profile courts". I said "the magistrates' courts are hopelessly under-resources by comparison with the High Courts, despite the fact that they shoulder at least ninety percent of the case load".
I gave the classical example of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein. I said that at the moment the Constitutional Court, which disposes of less than twenty cases per year, has a bigger budget than the Supreme Court of Appeal, which disposes of more than 120 cases per year. I further said that this situation clearly calls for rationalisation and transformation. I emphased that in our efforts to ensure justice for all, "it is extremely important to adapt to a radical affirmative action programme to redress the imbalances while, at the same time, working towards rationalisation of the utilisation of our scares resources".
I emphasised the fact that this situation would be discussed further with Judges, Magistrates and all other role players within the Judiciary.
Another area which I touched upon during my address relates to the issue of leave of Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court Judges and the amount of time which these courts spend in recess. I said a need exists to utilise our highly skilled Constitutional Court Judges to assist at other levels of the Judiciary in the country such as at the Supreme Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein where for instance, huge work load exist. The whole question of the amount of time during which superior courts are in recess needs to be reviewed. The practice whereby these courts sit for only about six months of the year dates back to colonial times when the judges used to be sent out from England for half of the year and were able to go back home for the other half of the year.
I emphasised the point that the process of reviewing utilisation of our resources will help us to ensuring that scarce resources are utilised efficiently. The matter however will be discussed with all members of the judiciary.
I also took the opportunity to respond to the former Chairman of the General Council of the Bar, Mr Peter Hodes SC, who in the June edition of Consultus, a Journal of the GCB, questioned some of the appointments which had been made to the Bench. He suggested that the standard of appointments to the Bench might be regarded as so low that advocates of the Bar might begin to refuse to make themselves available for appointment.
In my response I said "this comment is unacceptable, given the history of the legal profession in South Africa."
I challenged, and I still do, those who are making these allegations to come forward and tell me what they have done to empower black lawyers. Even at present one finds it rare that big business gives work to black law firms. I said that there are many black attorneys and advocates in the country but they are simply not being given any litigation or commercial work by big business. Most of the work is still given to white firms and they, in turn, brief white counsel.
I said senior advocates and attorneys could have empowered young black advocates by giving them briefs, but they seldom did so. Even today they seldom do so. I believe that, given the history of our country and the constitutional imperative to make the Bench representative, the comments of Mr Hodes are nothing less than unfair.
ISSUED BY PAUL SETSETSE ON BEHALF OF THE MINISTER MADUNA
Pretoria
CELL: 0832524770
31 AUGUST 1999