Process for appointing the Chief Justice
We review the process for selecting a new Chief Justice – what the law states, what has been done previously, and what we expect President Ramaphosa to do.
Most read articles of 2019
Throughout the year we write articles to share information about the JSC, the judges’ interview process and the South African judicial system as a whole. Here is a list of Judges Matter’s most popular articles in 2019. Five ConCourt candidates recommended to the President Six candidates were interviewed for the Constitutional Court on Wednesday 3 […]
The top 10 JSC interviews of 2019
The Judicial Service Commission interviewed over 50 judicial candidates in 2019 and while all the JSC interviews are interesting, there are always a few which stand out and capture people’s attention. Here are some of the most popular JSC interviews from 2019: Mr Daniel Mafeleu Thulare The issues around judicial governance hit the JSC […]
JOASA Statement: Thulare’s comments on Judicial Authority
The last round of JSC interviews took place from the 7 – 11 October 2019. On Tuesday 8 October, Mr Daniel Thulare, the Cape Town Chief Magistrate, was interviewed for a position on the Western Cape High Court bench. During the interviews he was questioned by the Chief Justice regarding comments he had made during […]
The role of NGOs in the Courts
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 […]
Customary law and the courts
Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, will release her report into the missing Bapo-Ba-Mogale mining royalties by the end of April. Mkhwebane visited the community near Brits in North West on 27 March 2017, regarding her probe into the so-called “D account”. The account, into which mining companies pay royalties for communities on whose ancestral land they […]
Zuma removes JSC members
In a press statement last week, The Presidency announced that President Zuma had decided to replace three members of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC). Namely, Advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC, Advocate Ismael Semenya SC and Ms Andiswa Ndoni. This move has been described by The Sunday Times as ‘a new assault on the judiciary’. The Sunday […]
When political strife plays out in the courts
In March 2016 the SCA confirmed a ruling by the North Gauteng High Court that the government had acted unlawfully in failing to arrest the Sudanese president, Omar al–Bashir, when he visited South Africa in June 2015. All indications were that the South African government had not complied with a Pretoria High Court order granted […]
