Too much work, too few judges.
This is the situation at the Gauteng high courts - especially in the Pretoria division - with the result that litigants who are launching civil trials, will have to wait until January 2029 before they will be heard by a judge.
The Pretoria Attorneys Association has raised its concerns in this regard and in written submissions in a bid to find a solution to the crisis.
It is contained in comments made to a committee who is investigating and making recommendations to the justice ministry regarding, amongst others, the streamlining and workings of the divisions of the high courts.
Under phase two, the committee is required to evaluate the judicial establishment of each division of the high court to ensure an equitable distribution of judicial posts across all divisions.
The Pretoria Attorneys Association pointed out to the committee that litigants in civil trial matters will have to wait for about four-and-a-half years before they are granted a hearing before a judge.
These lead times are the longest they have been in in the history of this division of the high court, Nicolette de Witt, chairperson of the Pretoria Attorneys Association said in the submissions.
She said meanwhile crucial witnesses may die and evidence may be lost, while injured people - in medical negligence and personal injury matters - await the outcome of these trials for much-needed medical treatment.
Some may even succumb to their injuries, families in need of financial support will go hungry, and young dependants - in loss of support matters - may lose out on the opportunity to undergo the studies required to enable them to obtain gainful employment.
Meanwhile expert reports older than two years become stale. Updated expert reports - which are required to be filed before a trial date will be allocated in terms of court rules - have to be obtained thereby doubling the expert costs incurred in matters payable by the defendants, in many instances state institutions.
Some people find it impossible to fathom that they have to wait in excess of four-and-a-half years, after the allocation of a trial date for the trial date to arrive.
Under the prevalent circumstances and with a lead time of four-and-a-half years in Pretoria, the civil justice system is failing South Africans and depriving them of their right to access the courts, De Witt said.
One of the biggest problems is that there are simply too few judges to go around. In responding to questions in this regard by Independent Media, the Office of the Chief Justice acknowledged this fact.
Judge President of the Gauteng Division, Judge Dunstan Mlambo indicated that there are more cases that have been brought before the court than there are Judges to hear them.
“The leadership of the division has in the past pronounced itself publicly regarding the insufficient number of judges available to the court to deal with the increased volume of matters before the court.”
Judge Mlambo added that the current challenge is exacerbated by the reluctance of litigants to submit their matters to mediation, but rather insist on getting trial dates.
What is disappointing to him, Judge Mlambo said, is that over 85% of matters on the civil trial roll - RAF in particular - always settle on the date of trial.
Clearly, according to him, the roll will not be clogged and there will be no long lead times for civil trial dates if these matters went to mediation at an earlier stage.
De Witt meanwhile said in the Pretoria Attorneys Association submissions, it happens on a regular basis in the Pretoria division that on the allocated hearing date, and when the day roll is called, there are simply not sufficient judges to deal with the civil trials.
Independent Media looked at one of the day rolls this week, and noted that on Tuesday’s roll, there were only four judges who had to deal with a civil roll comprising 42 matters.
In its submissions, the Pretoria Attorneys Association said matters which did not make it to hearing, tragically has to be postponed to another available date, which dates range up to more than 12 months further into the future.
It also raised the issue that various highly litigious state entities are situated within the jurisdictional area of the Pretoria high court. These include the RAF, Prasa, Gauteng Health and several ministries.
Meanwhile the Gauteng Division of the High Court (Pretoria and Johannesburg) currently has 86 judicial posts, comprising of the judge president, a deputy judge president and 44 posts at the Pretoria main seat.
The Johannesburg High Court has a deputy judge president and 39 judges.
“The truth of the matter is that many judges counted as being posted to these divisions are called upon to act in the Supreme Court of Appeal, and other courts, or are on long leave thereby making the number of judges truly available and sitting at any given time is significantly less,” the Pretoria Attorneys Association pointed out.
It urged the commission to make more urgent and practical recommendations based on pragmatic considerations that would bring relief to the crisis faced by the Pretoria arm of the high court.
It said that especially in Pretoria, it is not only urgent, but extremely urgent that more judges be appointed as soon as this year as a crisis management measure.
“It is nothing but a crisis if South African citizens must wait for 4.5 years from date of allocation of hearing date to hearing date. This can simply not be left to be addressed in due course.”
The Pretoria Attorneys Association said Gauteng High Court, Pretoria was simply overburdened and an urgent plan had to be made.
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