Slow pace of justice slated

One of the country's most senior judges has expressed concern at the slow pace of justice, saying judicial officers have allowed litigants and lawyers to control the speed at which the courts work.

Speaking ahead of the Access to Justice conference at the weekend, Judge Dunstan Mlambo, judge president of the labour court, said: "Parties [that] litigate and their lawyers control the pace of the judicial process. This results in a lot of unnecessary delays, which affect our ability to provide justice to those who need it most . matters take too long to be finalised in the court."

He said the judiciary should "take control of the judicial process" by enforcing strict deadlines on both litigants and lawyers.

After the conference closed yesterday, Judge Bernard Ngoepe, judge president of the Johannesburg and Pretoria high courts, said the three branches of government were equal.

Ngoepe was referring to comments by President Jacob Zuma on Friday. Zuma said that though the separation of powers between the executive, the judiciary and the legislature was important, courts should not be more powerful than the government.

He said: "The powers conferred on the courts cannot be superior to the powers resulting from the political and consequently administrative mandate resulting from popular democratic elections.

"The executive, as elected officials, has the sole discretion to decide policies for government . this means that once [the] government has decided on appropriate policies, the judiciary cannot, when striking down legislation or parts thereof on the basis of illegality, raise that as an opportunity to change the policies."

The president of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Judge Lex Mpati, said the core function of a judge was to decide cases in a court of law and, to enable them to function, they had been given enormous powers.

"In constitutional matters they are able to declare invalid any law, including legislation passed by the elected representatives of the nation, and can declare unconstitutional any conduct of, or by, the president of the country that is inconsistent with the Constitution," he said.

Chief Justice Sandile Ncgobo said steps should be taken to implement electronic filing of documents in all courts so that judges could access them easily.

"If the proper systems are in place and the necessary hardware is available, it is now possible for busy judges to access court documents from anywhere," he said.

He also proposed the establishment of a committee to review the justice system regularly.

"Our justice system is ill. We must take it under our care until it recovers fully."