EDITORIAL | Concerted effort is needed to fix problems at courts

While former parliament speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula sashayed into the Pretoria magistrate’s court on Thursday to apply for bail in an appearance beamed to TV screens in homes countrywide, this seemed to present how functional courts were in the country. 

There are other court appearances that are screened on TV which present a fully functioning justice system.

But this is not the picture witnessed by two MPs who visited the Pretoria magistrate's court and the Pretoria high court the next day. 

When they arrived at the magistrate’s court at 10.30am, they noticed the lack of court staff in their offices and the many courtrooms standing empty. 

The MPs established from court personnel they could track down that on Fridays they start 30 minutes early, at 8.30am, and end their day at 10am. Court hours at magistrate’s courts are 9am to 3pm daily, without exception. The MPs alleged they witnessed the same situation at the high court.

The MPs said this was a shocking waste of court time in light of the growing delays and backlogs in countless criminal and civil matters still pending before courts, with litigants sometimes waiting for months, or years, to finalise their cases.

The MPs also gave a shocking account, saying except for one lavatory in the magistrate’s court, none of the toilets in the building had any toilet paper and many were simply marked “out of order”. They reported on rubbish which was sitting in black bags in the hallways and hazardous cleaning supplies which were left out in public spaces. 

There was a news report last year that Gauteng deputy judge president Roland Sutherland has publicly appealed for government to urgently address the fire safety crisis at the Johannesburg high court. He said the largely unaddressed fire safety risks at the court were a 'life-or-death' situation.

In January 2022, MPs from the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice and correctional services who visited the Mpumalanga high court in Mbombela said the infrastructure in the building, which was opened in 2019, was falling apart. There were reports of roof leaks, broken security cameras, an out-of-service biometric system and falling bookshelves in the library. 

During the visit by the same team of MPs to the Palm Ridge magistrate’s court a few days earlier, they heard how the justice department has allowed contracts for the maintenance and servicing of court recording transcription machines and CCTVs to expire, forcing courts to postpone cases.

They heard from magistrates and prosecutors that the unavailability of working recording machines presented a big challenge. They said this could lead to a crisis in cases where matters are taken on review or appeal and court recordings are required. 

The committee also heard that without CCTV, child rape cases cannot be heard, as this means children cannot testify, forcing cases to be postponed.

When she was public works and infrastructure minister in 2019, Patricia de Lille said she received complaints across the country about the poor state of court buildings. 

“In some cases lifts and air conditioners are not working. In Pinetown [west of Durban], there are reports that rats are eating the lunch and snakes are eating the rats. Coupled with this, there’s a persistent stench of [sewage],” De Lille said. 

Despite these problems plaguing the courts being highlighted every few months, there seems to be no concerted effort to fix these problems and ensure the public has access to justice at safe and welcoming spots. 

The departments of public works and infrastructure and justice should work closer together to ensure the infrastructure problems are fixed. 

Court personnel should also be encouraged to use all court hours to strive to reduce the backlog of cases.