Delays, non-delivery of judgments vex PAC
Mpho Mokwape | Wednesday June 3, 2015 15:02
Yesterday, PAC member and Selebi Phikwe West legislator, Dithapelo Keorapetse said delays and the non-delivery of judgments appeared to be rampant and continued to be worrisome in the Administration of Justice (AoJ).
“Delays and non-delivery of judgments is still ongoing and is a worrisome trend,” he said. Keorapetse said it appeared some judges were either slow or reluctant to deliver judgments on time, a behaviour, which he said, contributed to backlogs within the judicial system.
He said this had, in turn resulted in members of the public losing trust in the judicial system as shown by surveys carried out in the country. “Members of the public seem to be losing trust in the judiciary and the Administration of Justice in this country. Something needs to be done to curb the situation,” he said.
Keorapetse also asked the AoJ to give an update on forum shopping, saying there had always been speculation that some magistrates and judges were receiving money from plaintiffs and legal representatives in order to favour them in the hearing of cases.
Registrar and Master of the High Court, Michael Motlhabi said the delays and non-delivery of cases were due to the complexity of some of them.
“Cases differ and some are more complex than others. These may need more time to be looked into and to be reviewed extensively to avoid any mistakes.
“I agree that there are cases that take time for judgments to be delivered, but I can assure you that there is no backlog,” he said.
Motlhabi said forum shopping had since come under control since the introduction of the withdrawal rule. He said few cases were being withdrawn now as such requests were heavily scrutinised.
“When the plaintiff or legal representative brings forward requests for withdrawal of the case, the request is taken seriously and scrutinised until one satisfies all the necessary requirements,” he said.
PAC member and MP for Bonnington South, Ndaba Gaolathe advised the Administration of Justice to benchmark with other countries in order to gauge its own progress and areas for improvement.
“Don’t rely on the fact that other African countries benchmark here. You too should be benchmarking even outside Africa to gauge the progress you have made,” he said.