If the judicial leg of democracy fails, the centre cannot hold.
That’s the unassailable truth about democratic governments in which the three branches, the legislature, the executive and the judiciary, check each other’s powers and hold each other to account to achieve a common goal.
But as the Sunday Times reported at the weekend, the efficacy of our judiciary as one of the pillars underpinning our famed democracy is being sabotaged and our courts are literally falling apart.
Our judicial authority is vested in the functioning system of courts, judges and magistrates who sit in these courts ensuring justice is meted out under the law.
Now it seems justice is being impaired because the basic tools of the trade — telephones, paper and recording and transcription devices — are defective or in short supply.
This is on top of conditions of service and salaries raised last year by the country’s magistrates, some of whom threatened to go on strike, while others preferred to use the law to fight their battle against the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public OfficeBearers over the review for magistrates.
The Judicial Officers Association of South Africa (Joasa) in April notified parliament's bosses, expressing frustration about the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public OfficeBearers dragging its feet about the review for magistrates across the country.
Meanwhile, the Association of Regional Magistrates of Southern Africa (Armsa) is suing the remuneration commission, President Cyril Ramaphosa and parliament for the failure of the commission to take into account the changing role, status and duties of magistrates when making annual recommendations over their salaries, allowances and benefits.
Both organisations have accused the commission, which has to report to the president, of delaying this “major review” of magistrates’ remuneration despite the vast changes in their functions and jurisdictions.
The last major review of magistrates was in 2004, and its recommendations were implemented in 2008.
To further entrench their angst, judicial officers are having to deal with physical challenges.
If our very houses of justice are not liveable — no electricity and only intermittent water, lacking basic equipment, a fire hazard, falling ceilings and leaking roofs, operating in caravans and no communication — how are we achieving justice for the people?
Workplace challenges in government facilities render our claims to represent democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights — hailed worldwide as progressive — hypocritical and hollow.
If our very houses of justice are not liveable — no electricity and only intermittent water, lacking basic equipment, a fire hazard, falling ceilings and leaking roofs, operating in caravans and no communication — how are we achieving justice for the people?
We need only look at examples of this — last week the appearance of former president and MK Party leader Jacob Zuma's daughter, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, was delayed because there was no power in the multistorey building.
This was the same building which last year was declared a fire hazard and will require about R250m to fix its ageing infrastructure. It is put under further strain because it houses the Durban High Court while renovations continue for several years at the existing facility along the Victoria Embankment.
We know that justice delayed is justice denied. A perusal of the public protector report into gender-based violence victim Altecia Kortje, who was turned away at the Bellville magistrate’s court in 2020 while trying to apply for a protection order against the man who subsequently murdered her, is evidence of this.
As a result of these challenges, both criminals and victims are affected.
Armsa and Judges Matter said maintenance funding shortfalls are compounded by a lack of government departmental co-ordination between the justice department and the public works and infrastructure department.
Last year public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson visited the Durban court after a bomb scare and concerns raised by the Public Servants Association about the 12-storey building.
Macpherson's spokesperson James de Villiers said the department did not have an accurate estimate of the total amount required for proper maintenance of these facilities, but is aware billions of rand are needed to address urgent maintenance backlogs.
This matter cannot afford to be remanded any further. Both departments need to find common ground to ensure justice is not denied for the sake of its people and our democracy.
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