Earlier this week, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe announced his intention to establish the seat of the High Court in the Eastern Cape in Bhisho, according to the objectives outlined in the Superior Courts Bill.
Earlier this week, Justice Minister Jeff Radebe announced his intention to establish the seat of the High Court in the Eastern Cape in Bhisho, according to the objectives outlined in the Superior Courts Bill.
The Bill provides for the restructuring of the existing high courts into a single High Court of South Africa, with one division of the High Court in each province. According to the Bill, there are no provisions made for the local divisions that currently exist in the Eastern Cape in Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth, Mthatha and Bhisho.
The Minister of Justice will have the mandate, if the Bill is passed, to determine where the division will sit and it seems that Bhisho is the Minister’s preferred choice.
“We have taken a position in the Superior Courts Bill to establish the seat of the Division of the High Court in the Eastern Cape in Bhisho which is the seat of government in the province. This will facilitate effective cooperative governance and interaction between the three branches of government which is essential element of our constitutional democracy. We are aware of the divergent views of the judiciary on this matter and we will continue to further engage on this issue,” Radebe said during a farewell dinner held for outgoing Eastern Cape Judge President Cecil Somyalo.
Justice Spokesperson Tlali Tlali confirmed that it had been decided that Bhisho would be the seat of the High Court. “It will obviously only be implemented once the [Superior Courts] Bill is enacted, but that is the intention,” Tlali said in an interview with the Daily Dispatch on Tuesday.
When later approached by Grocott’s Mail for comment, Tlali responded by SMS saying: “Minister made an announcement to that effect but details will come out during the minister’s budget vote speech in Parliament next week Wednesday.”
Tlali also said that the decision had followed “all the necessary consultation” and stakeholders had been involved. He said a decision had to be taken “at some point”. “Decisions are inevitably not always to the satisfaction of everyone, for whatever reasons.”
It appears, however, that there has been little consultation with offices of the High Court in Grahamstown, with senior officials unaware of the decision being finalised. A source confirmed that while the matter had been in the pipeline for a while, there had been no word from the department that Grahamstown would lose its seat to the province’s executive capital.
Another source from inside the office of the High Court explained that Bhisho would not be a “practical choice” since the size of the administrative buildings and the accommodation available for staff is less adequate than in Grahamstown. The source also said that while it was the intention of the department “to make justice more accessible”, Bhisho was not very accessible to the majority of people in the province."
The decision is set to affect Grahamstown directly but the Bill has also raised a few eyebrows with Radebe’s announcement coming after a long-standing intention by the Zuma administration to push through the Bill, shelved during the Mbeki era, after it was criticised for attempting to interfere with the independence of the judiciary.
First introduced in 2003, the Superior Courts Bill is intended to “rationalise and consolidate the laws pertaining to the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Courts into a single Act of Parliament.” Opposition parties claimed that the Bill would let government take charge of the administration of courts and that the courts would be at risk of reflecting “ANC loyalty”.
Cosatu was also critical of the Bill at the time, concerned with the fact that the Bill would effectively abolish labour courts by moving labour disputes to a specialised High Court. Last year however, Radebe stated his intent to reintroduce the Bill explaining that there was “nothing sinister” about its motives and that the administration could not allow more than a decade to lapse before Parliament processes an important piece of legislation.
Radebe also said that issues surrounding the Bill that required consultation would be given due attention. A few days after the announcement, President Jacob Zuma followed up on Radebe’s comments by assuring the public that the independence of the judiciary would not be threatened and that the separation of powers would be defended.
