Justice minister wants further consultation over Makhanda high court decision

Justice minister Mmamoloko Kubayi announced on Tuesday that a decision on the recommended relocation of the seat of the Eastern Cape high court from Makhanda to Bhisho would be deferred until she had consulted affected stakeholders in the province. Speaking at a media briefing, the minister said cabinet had approved the court rationalisation committee’s final report and government would proceed with its implementation. But the one exception was the controversial recommendation to relocate the seat of the Eastern Cape Division from Makhanda to Bhisho.

This, she said, would only be considered after she had led further consultations with key stakeholders in the province. The rationalisation committee, consisting of retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, judge Jeanette Traverso and retired Western Cape deputy judge president Silas Ramaite, submitted its final report to the cabinet last year. In it, the committee retained its controversial recommendation that the seat of the Eastern Cape high court be moved from Makhanda to Bhisho and that the Makhanda high court’s territorial jurisdiction be reduced by about two-thirds.

This was despite a huge backlash from the local legal community, educational institutions, the ANC-led municipality and civil society, who argued that it would devastate the vulnerable regional economy and result in the shedding of thousands of jobs. Kubayi said her department would now proceed with implementing all other recommendations in two phases. This included the implementation of the committee’s recommended magisterial districts and sub-districts in respect of which the main and local seats of the respective divisions of the high courts would exercise jurisdiction.

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“With regards to local seats, phase one of the implementation will entail gazetting and the usage of courts where infrastructure is already available. Implementation of phase two, which included the establishment of additional local seats, would be done in a more gradual “phased-in” way.

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