Pretoria – Chief Justice Mogoeng wa Mogoeng says the concept of a single Judiciary must be viewed and understood in South Africa.
According to Mogoeng, when the Judiciary operates as a single entity it bears the collective responsibility for the underperformance of any court at any level.
“The Judiciary is the only arm of the state that is not properly coordinated from national to province and even within the province. And I think the establishment of a single Judiciary without [necessarily] calling Magistrates Judges, or doing anything cosmetic, is critical at this stage,” Mogoeng said.
Chief Justice Mogoeng was speaking at the 17th General Conference of the Judicial Officers Association of South Africa (JOASA) on Friday evening.
Mogoeng said there can be no doubt that a single Judiciary is a constitutional injunction which must be realised.
He said the Judiciary, as an entity, is recognised as the third arm of the state, worldwide and that in many, if not all, jurisdictions, it does bear the hallmarks of oneness or unity.
“Over the years, the institutional arrangements around the Judiciary were such that, barring normal litigation processes, there really was no structured relationship or form of engagements between various courts,” he said.
Mogoeng said all the other arms of the state have, all along, been well aligned and their operations properly coordinated at all levels, nationally and provincially.
“The provisions of Chapter 8 of our Constitution, properly understood, enjoins us to ensure that the Magistracy is integrated into the broader judicial system,” Mogoeng said.
Section 8(4)(c) of the Superior Courts Act gives the Judges President the responsibility to co-ordinate judicial functions of all Magistrates Courts falling under their jurisdiction. This, according Mogoeng, is consistent with the constitutional vision to establish a single Judiciary in this country.
“The constitutional values of responsiveness, transparency and accountability, which apply to the Judiciary as much as it does to all other organs of State, require that we not only account through our judgments, but also by delivering quality justice to all our people speedily,” he said.
“We must look like and in fact operate as a unified front, able and ready to deliver quality justice to all our people,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
