Maya to start office with 'burning issues' still on Zondo's desk: experts

Newly appointed chief justice Mandisa Maya will have to take over several unresolved pressing issues from her predecessor Raymond Zondo, experts say.

These would include “burning” issues such as the independent administration of the judiciary, following up on the state capture inquiry findings and implementing the sexual harassment policy, which are still on the desk of Zondo, who will vacate the top office in a month.

President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed Maya on Thursday to take over the top judicial seat effective from September 1 as Zondo's term expires on August 31.

According to legal experts, Maya will have burning issues in her inbox when she takes office, which Zondo would be unable to resolve in his remaining four weeks.

These include the independence of the judiciary's administration, which currently sits with the department of justice, the ministry of justice, and the Office of the Chief Justice.

This means that when judicial decisions are made, including the budget set out for the judiciary by the National Treasury, judges are not consulted nor given the relevant input, said researcher and advocacy officer at Judges Matter Mbekezeli Benjamin.

This was also mentioned by Zondo on Friday afternoon when he tabled the 2022/23 Judiciary Report.

“One of the burning issues, which Zondo mentioned this afternoon, is the issue of a judiciary-led administration of the courts. For the longest time, and according to chief justice Zondo, the judiciary made a proposal to the government on what the administration of the court should look like,” Benjamin said.

He said what was proposed was that the administration be moved to the judiciary itself because, currently, it was essentially run by the minister of justice, the Office of the Chief Justice and the department of justice.

“What that practically looks like, such as on issues of budget for example, is that the budget is currently set by the National Treasury and officials in government and judges have no say over the budget. The difficulty is when there are budget cuts, such as the cuts announced last year,” he said.

An example of the impact of the budget was evident in the Supreme Court of Appeal, which had six researchers to serve 25 judges. However, the court was now left with three researchers as those who had resigned were not replaced, Benjamin said.

“That slows down the pace at which judgments can be delivered, and that is true across the court system. What the judges are saying is that they want now to have a greater say on how courts are administered, how budgets are set and how the budget is spent. That is a big issue.”

In his briefing on Friday afternoon, Zondo said he had been trying to have a discussion with Ramaphosa about the matter and met him in December last year. However, despite having proposed three possible dates to meet and resolve the issue, that has not yet happened.

“This is a burning issue and I believe chief justice Zondo would not be able to deal with this before he leaves,” Benjamin said.

Despite this, Zondo was only in office for just over two years and was unable to accomplish many things during his short stint, said Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (CASAC) executive secretary Lawson Naidoo.

“There has been a process of increasing judicial independence that has to be continued and a proper separation of over-reliance of government, specifically the department of justice in the court, when it comes to court facilities and the number of judges before our courts. We also need to look at new technologies for the courts. These are challenges Maya has in her inbox when she takes office. It’s a huge task that will face her,” Naidoo said.

Another issue still sitting with Zondo is ensuring the recommendations of the state capture inquiry, which he led, are implemented. This could possibly also be left up to Maya, said the Law Society of SA. 

“[Zondo might aim] to ensure that the findings and recommendations from the state capture inquiry are clearly communicated and any immediate legal action is set in motion. [Maya has to] ensure that the recommendations are implemented effectively and that legal proceedings against implicated individuals and entities proceed smoothly,” the society said.

Another burning issue is the anti-sexual harassment policy for judges which Zondo said on Friday was sitting on his desk after he proposed it during his interview in 2022.

Benjamin said it was likely Zondo would sign it before he vacates his office, but it would be left to Maya to implement.

“There are issues of sexual harassment such as judge president Selby Mbenenge of the Eastern Cape who was charged but has not been suspended. Maya will have to implement what will happen to judges who are alleged to have committed sexual harassment. When you look at the Mbenenge case, it was treated differently ... Mbenenge got special leave and not suspension. Those kinds of things will have to be dealt with when it comes to the anti-sexual harassment policy,” said Benjamin.