(Parliamentary Budget Vote Debate: Office of the Chief Justice)
The South African Judiciary is in jeopardy, and decisive and extraordinary measures must be implemented to remedy this alarming reality.
None of the articles of faith in the South African Constitution are necessarily credible.
In reality, the Constitution is not supreme and entrenched. It appears to keep changing constantly, and often drastically, despite strict amendment requirements, and depending on observable socio-economic forces.
The bill of individual rights cannot guarantee absolute justice, because in South Africa rights are often subject to the ideologically driven exercise of judicial intervention, often with disastrous consequences for those who rely on the Bill of Rights.
At the head of the Judiciary is the Chief Justice as a custodian of our Constitution and the laws adopted by the elected representatives of the country's people.
The Chief Justice ought to be the defender of the rights of all South Africans, and has the responsibility to ensure equal access to justice.
The mandate of the Office of the Chief Justice is to render effective administrative and technical support to the Chief Justice as the head of the Judiciary and as head of the Constitutional Court.
It must also provide administrative, operational and management support to the Judiciary.
The FF Plus is convinced that the recently appointed Chief Justice Raymond Zondo will fulfil this role with excellence.
Hopefully, the Office of the Chief Justice will provide him with adequate support to implement extraordinary measures that will address the country's extraordinary circumstances.
Although the Office of the Chief Justice has maintained a clean audit, the FF Plus is concerned about the medium- and long-term consequences of the government's attempts to curb expenditure growth by reducing baseline budgets and imposing ceilings on compensation expenditure.
It will result in a greater gap between revenue and expenditure, and put more pressure on basic service delivery while limiting progress.
The effective functioning of the courts is also in jeopardy due to, among other things, serious infrastructure and maintenance problems.
With frequent load shedding being a given in South Africa, the lack of, or inadequate, generators at court buildings is just one of the infrastructure-related problems that undermine the efficient proceeding of court cases.
At the Court of Appeal, the generator can only keep the lights in the corridors on during power outages and load shedding. Since courtrooms do not have windows, it is impossible for cases to be heard when the electricity is off. It is making a mockery of the right to access to justice.
South African courts are unable to effectively provide court services in accordance with the standards and court rules, and this must be rectified at once.
The first step in remedying this unfortunate and serious situation is to ensure that the South African Constitution is respected.
Secondly, the Office of the Chief Justice must be equipped to provide the support the respected Chief Justice needs to fulfil his mandate.
Under the current government, however, that will not happen. South Africa and its people deserve better than the ANC.
;
