By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi says government is moving to improve access to justice for all with the implementation of the rationalisation of the courts.
Kubayi briefed the media on Tuesday on the department’s plans to ensure that the courts better serve communities.
“After 30 years of our constitutional democracy, the rationalisation of the courts is long overdue. Cabinet has approved the rationalization committee report and has given us a go-ahead to proceed with the implementation,” Kubayi said.
She said the rationalisation process seeks to redefine the areas of jurisdiction of magistrates’ courts and divisions of the High Court in a manner that advances access to justice, particularly for poor and vulnerable communities.
According to Kubayi, despite significant progress since 1994, much of the court system inherited from the apartheid era remained intact, leaving many communities in former homeland areas and remote rural regions facing significant challenges in accessing courts.
“As a result, the legacy of colonialism and apartheid continues to plague South Africa with spatial injustices and to impede access to courts for communities that reside in the areas that formed part of the defunct homelands and self-governing territories, as well as remote rural villages,” she said.
To remedy this, the Interim Rationalisation of Jurisdiction of the High Court’s Act of 2001 introduced minimum changes and in 2014, the department commenced with the implementation of the rationalisation of Magisterial Districts in the provinces.
Furthermore in 2021, then Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, established a Committee on The Rationalisation of the Areas under the Jurisdiction and Judicial Establishments of the Divisions of the High Court of South Africa chaired by retired Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke.
“In essence, the committee was established to identify key elements of the current structure of our high courts that need to be changed with a view to ‘establishing a judicial system suited to the requirements of the Constitution’.
“The Rationalisation Committee’s report was completed in two phases, each with own recommendations, “she explained.
Kubayi noted that Cabinet has now approved the committee’s report and implementation which will be done in two phases.
The first phase includes:
• Implementation of the immediate recommendations of the Rationalisation Committee, which entails, recommendations regarding the Magisterial Districts and Sub-Districts in respect of which the Main and Local Seats of the respective Divisions of the High Court shall exercise jurisdiction, with the view to enhance access to justice, recommended by the Rationalisation Committee.
• With regards to local seats, Phase 1 of the implementation will entail gazetting and the usage of courts where infrastructure is already available, this comes into effect by 1 July 2026.
“The review of the guidelines for the appointment of Acting Judges has been completed. The final draft of the guidelines have been signed off by the Chief Justice and they will be gazetted for implementation and also comes into effect from 1st July 2026.
“A process has been initiated with National Treasury and Office of the Chief Justice to effect the 20% increase of the judicial posts to deal with the capacity challenges across the Divisions of the High Court, as recommended by the Rationalisation Committee,” Kubayi said.
Phase two of the implementation includes:
• A phased-in approach for implementation of the recommendations of the Rationalisation Committee regarding the establishment of additional local seats which entails the establishment of additional local seats through the building of new courts or expansion of the existing magistrates’ courts.
The expansion will include the Gauteng Division at Palm Ridge, Free State Division at Welkom, North West Division at Rustenburg, Northern Cape Division at Upington and the Western Cape Division at Thembalethu.
“After consultations with the Gauteng Judge President, Judge [Aubrey] Ledwaba, and other relevant stakeholders, we have agreed and initiated steps to establish a court in Kempton Park, next to OR Tambo airport.”
“Though this initiative is not part of the recommendations of the rationalisation committee, we believe that the circumstances especially regarding immigration demand that we act swiftly to create the necessary infrastructure and justice systems to attend to this important matter,” Kubayi added.