Section 174 (2) of the Constitution of South Africa, which may be referred to as the “transformation clause” stipulates that the need for the judiciary to “reflect broadly the racial and gender composition of South Africa must be considered” when judges are appointed. The contentious nature of the provision was captured in a question that […]
Chief Justice Mogoeng occasionally laments the long, and what I understand as exhausting to peruse, judgments prepared by our Courts. I would like to suggest a focus on the length of judgments rather than their substance would be to risk a poorer justice being delivered to litigants and society as a whole. Of course, you […]
South Africa has a remarkably extensive civil society sector, ranging from small to large, complex organisations with sizeable staff and budgets. Before 1994, many organisations worked to end apartheid. In the post-apartheid era, some NGOs seem to have continued with the role of being watch dogs, playing oversight role on the government while others function […]
As part of our work and to create greater transparency around the judiciary and the JSC interviews, we write profiles and interview synopses of each of the candidates who are interviewed by the JSC. To give you some insight into some of the judicial candidates who appear before the JSC we’ve put together a list […]
Watching the Judicial Service Commission interviews can give you great insight into the nature of a candidate as well as the judiciary and the JSC itself. As not everyone can attend the JSC interviews and watch them live, we record all the interviews and share the videos on our YouTube channel for you to watch. […]
Throughout the year we write articles to share more information about the JSC, the judges’ interview process and the South African judicial system as a whole. Here is a list of our most read and most popular articles in 2017. 1. Malema’s questions for judges at the JSC interviews Posted: 14th March 2017 As one […]
When you are in a court in which the judge, the prosecutor, the accused, and the defence lawyer all speak isiXhosa, why should the proceedings be English? There are several answers to this, which are put forward in judgments and at the Judicial Service Commission, but they ring increasingly hollow. The main argument is that […]
The opportunity not to do something is as important as the chance to do something. This JSC has chosen to step back on making appointments to two leadership positions in the Northern Cape and the North West. In both instances the interviews of the candidates left a clear trail of clues as to why the […]
In a finely balanced decision handed down on Thursday, 22 June 2017, by a unanimous bench, the Constitutional Court has found that it cannot direct the Speaker of the National Assembly, “to make all the necessary arrangements to ensure that the motion of no confidence . . . is decided by secret ballot, including designating […]
Hoping to fill either the Judge President or Deputy Judge President position, Judge Cecile Williams would have a clear idea of the challenges facing the courts in this sparsely populated province where unemployment and the attendant problems of alcohol abuse, crime, gambling and violence are rife — she has served as a judge there since […]
