BRIEFING TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND
CONSTITUIONAL AFFAIRS
BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE EXTENSION OF CIVIL JURISDICTION
TO THE REGIONAL COURTS BILL
18 JUNE 2008
1
THE CIVIL JUSTICE SYSTEM IN
SOUTH AFRICA
Civil dispute resolution mechanism
Different civil courts & and status of capacity
• Traditional Courts – deal with disputes within traditional communities largely based on
customary law / 800 plus courts presided by senior traditional leaders in six provinces
(the fact that there is not monetary jurisdictional limit is some of the flaws of the system
which are being addressed through a separate policy process
• Small Claims courts – limited jurisdiction to R7 000 / presided over by Commissioners
appointed largely from the legal practitioners
• District Magistrates’ Courts - structured as follows 366 district courts; 50 detached
courts;230 periodical courts; 90 Branch courts. Have civil jurisdiction, save for
dissolution of marriages
• Three Divorce Courts country- wide which focuses on family law disputes.
Jurisdiction of the 3 courts (Southern Divorce Courts, Central Divorce Courts and
Eastern Divorce Court cut across provincial boundaries); contrary to dictates of
integrated services that led to the Constitution 12th Amendment Act
• Regional Courts with 327 magistrates sit in all seats of the district courts and
certain detached and branch courts. These courts don’t have civil jurisdiction
2
The structure of the Divorce Court
The underlined area is the seat of the The Registrar of the Courts is stationed
Divorce Court at the seat of the Court where all papers
must be filed
North East Central Division Southern division
division •King Williamstown
•Durban • Ferreirasdorp •Higher delegations
Circuits: •Circuits: Atlantis
Empangeni •Klerksdorp •Beafort West
Eshowe •Mmabatho •Bethlehem, Umtata
Nelspruit •Mogwase •Bloemfontein
Lebowakgomo •Odi •Cape Town, Worcester
Newcastle •Potchefsstroom •East London
Pietermaritsburg •Vereeniging •PE
Polokwane •Vryburg •George, Vredendal,
Pretoria •Wolmaranstad Swellendam, Welkom,
Thohoyandou •Graaf-Reinet
Vryheid •Kayelitsha
•Kimberley
Each division has 3 Presiding Officers who rotate to all circuits of the division
3
The proposed legislation will
remedy the defect of the family
law adjudication system
- The structure and capacity of three divisions of the Divorce
Court have remained the same (an average of 3 Presiding
Officers for every division). This means for e.g. 3 Presiding
Officers attached to the Port Elizabeth division rotate around
19 the areas spread across three provinces of Eastern Cape,
Free State and Western Cape There are 3 Presiding Officers for
every division. This means for e.g. 3 Presiding Officers attached
to the Port Elizabeth division rotate around 19 areas spread
across three provinces of Eastern Cape, Free State and Western
Cape
- When a litigant consult a legal practitioner outside his/her
magisterial district his/her legal practitioner needs to brief a
correspondent in the area of jurisdiction of the court – paying
two attorneys for the same service
4
The proposed legislation will
increase access to justice
• The monetary limits of R100 000 for the district
courts means there is no “middle layer” where
the “middle class claims” would lie (and where
the majority of the population will have recourse)
(save where there is consent to high jurisdiction)
• The transitional nature of this proposed
legislation lies in the fact that ordinary citizens
will get access to courts while the court system is
being restructured to address the dichotomy –
the system cannot withhold service delivery
because structural and governance issues,
which are equally important, are still being
addressed
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6
7
Current Civil Court Stats
The District Court Cases reported over a three year period are provided below
Table 1: District Court Civil Cases
Region Civil Cases Filed % Population
Gauteng 1 353 031 53% 20,2%
Western Cape 436 389 17% 10,1%
Free State 177 874 7% 6,2%
Mpumalanga 153 343 6% 7,4%
Limpopo Province 131 089 5% 11,3%
Eastern Cape 123 077 5% 14,4%
North West 67 795 3% 7,1%
KwaZulu-Natal 63 871 2% 20,9%
Northern Cape 51 214 2% 2,3%
Grand Total 2 557 683 100%
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Current Civil Court Stats cont.
Civil Cases Recorded - 2005 to 2007
Eastern Cape
5%
Western Cape
Free State
17%
7%
Northern Cape
2%
North West
3%
Mpumalanga
6%
Limpopo Province
5%
KwaZulu-Natal
2%
Gauteng
53%
Figure 1: Civil Cases Recorded – Years 2005 to 2007
Analyzing the civil workload over a three year period, Figure 3 shows that
Gauteng Region had the most (that is 53% (1, 353, 031)) number of civil cases
recorded, followed by Western Cape which had 17%. The bulk of the civil cases
workload is therefore in Gauteng.
9
Current Civil Court Stats cont.
High Court Civil Cases
The High Court Civil Cases (in terms of cases placed on the court roll) reported
over a three year period (2005-2007) are provided below
Table 3: High Court Statistics
Placed on Settled/Struck off Heard by
High Court %
the roll the roll Judges
Pretoria 25 144 7 863 17 291 48%
Cape Town 7 128 2 793 4 622 13%
Durban 5 253 2 402 2 847 10%
Pietermaritzburg 4 001 2 350 1 582 8%
Bloemfontein 3 248 1 908 1 330 6%
Port Elizabeth 1 849 835 1 005 3%
Umtata 1836 807 735 3%
Johannesburg 1 498 2 434 108 3%
Grahamstown 844 443 401 2%
Mmabatho 722 335 640 1%
Thohoyandou 677 111 560 1%
Kimberley 555 427 122 1%
Bisho 444 297 238 1%
Total 53 199 23 004 31 480 100%
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Current Civil Court Stats cont.
Figure 4 below shows that the Pretoria High Court is carrying the most civil cases
workload (48%) of the total workload (53199) of cases placed on the court roll. It
is followed by Cape Town High Court (13%) and Durban High Court (10%).
High Court Civil Cases - 2005 to 2007
Umtata
3%
Bisho Bloemfontein
Thohoyandou 1% 6%
1%
Cape Town
13%
Durban
10%
Pretoria
48%
Grahamstown
2%
Johannesburg
3%
Kimberley
1%
Mmabatho
1%
Port Elizabeth
3% Pietermaritzburg
8%
Figure 1: High Court Civil Cases Placed on the Court Roll
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Divorce stats
Table 1: Divorce Court Statistics – Apr’06 to Mar’07
Divorc Final Summo Cases Case Cases Cases Marria Actual Time Applicati Settlem Trial
e orders nses placed s withdra postpo ges bench spent ons ents cases
Court grante issued on roll refus wn or ned declar hours on dispo
d ed struck ed null preparat sed of
from and ion
the roll void
Centra 1537:00 516:00:0
l 12652 14428 15788 6 1207 2475 1 :00 0 1880 3492 31
North
Easter 1828:00 1196:00:
n 6634 12849 10968 138 1645 2207 6 :00 00 410 1290 46
South 543:00: 226:00:0
ern 4142 6745 7273 6 1682 855 3 00 0 437 746 96
Grand
Total 23428 34022 34029 150 4534 5537 10 3908:00 1938:00 2727 5528 173
Divorce Court - Apr'06 to Mar'07
Southern
7273
21%
Central
15788
47%
North Eastern
10968
32%
Figure 1: Divorce Court Cases Placed on the roll – Apr’06 to Mar’07
Figure 2 shows that for the period April 2006 to March 2007, Central Divorce court had the
most number (47%) of cases placed on the court roll.
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Current Civil Court Stats cont.
Table 1: Divorce Court Statistics Apr’07 to Nov’07
Number Number
Number of cases of Number
Number of Number withdrawn marriages of trial
of final Number of cases of or struck Number of declared Actual Time spent cases
Divorce orders summonses placed cases from the cases null and bench on Number of Number of disposed
Court granted issued on roll refused roll postponed void hours preparation applications settlements of
Central 8821 8883 12788 0 838 1684 0 999:00 348:00 1752 2830 12
North-
Eastern 3942 7652 6683 84 1012 1446 0 1100:15 635:01 199 910 19
Southern 3112 3873 5436 0 1225 804 0 345:00 187:00 402 611 0
Grand
Total 15875 20408 24907 84 3075 3934 0 2444:15 1170:01 2353 4351 31
Divorce-Courts Cases Placed on the Roll - Apr'07 to Nov'07
5436
22%
12788
51%
6683
27%
Central North-Eastern Southern
Figure 1: Cases Placed on the Roll – Apr’07 to Nov’07
51% (12788) of the overall number (24907) of divorce cases placed on the roll are accounted
for by Central-Divorce Court. It is clear that Central Divorce court carries the bulk of the
divorce courts workload.
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THE AVERAGE STATS OF THE
DIVORCE COURT
In the Central Divorce Court an average of 1122 cases
per month are registered
• 715 are finalised through settlement outside court
• Only 200 are finalised through trial
• One presiding Officer sit in 8 circuits per month
• The Southern Divorce Court sits an average of 2 days
per month in areas across the Western Cape, Eastern
Cape and Free State
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High Court Stats
Civil workload performance
• Bloemfontein:
– Out of the 20 cases placed on the roll 20 was heard by a judge at an average waiting period of
2 months before a case could be heard. There are a high number of 1810 outstanding civil
cases as on 31/03/2007, which is a cause for concern and must be addressed.
• Cape Town:
– Out of the 2105 cases placed on the roll only 1318 was heard by a judge at an average waiting
period of 13 months before a case could be heard. The very high number of outstanding civil
cases 6226 as on 31 March 2007 is a great cause for concern and must be addressed.
• Pietermaritzburg:
– Out of the 1137 cases placed on the roll only 434 was heard by a judge at an average waiting
period of 17 months before a case could be heard. The very high number of outstanding civil
cases (6229) as on 31 March 2007 is a great cause for concern and must be addressed.
• Pretoria:
– Out of the 6709 cases placed on the roll only 4146 was heard by a judge at an average waiting
period of 16 months before a case could be heard. The very high number of outstanding civil
cases (27260) as on 31 March 2007 is a great cause for concern and must be addressed.
• Durban:
– Out of the 351 cases placed on the roll only 182 was heard by a judge at an average waiting
period of 6 months before a case could be heard. The very high number of outstanding civil
cases (9514) as on 31 March 2007 is a great cause for concern and must be addressed.
• Johannesburg:
– Out of the 120 cases placed on the roll only 15 was heard by a judge at an average waiting
period of 12 months before a case could be heard. The very high number of outstanding civil
cases (4707) as on 31 March 2007 is a great cause for concern and must be addressed.
15
IMPLEMENTATION PLAN - INCREMENTAL
•Magistrates raised LLB requirement as a limiting aspect
towards career mobility for magistrates with civil law
experience – matter is dealt with as part of the broad
transformation of the judiciary; end of long term act app
Getting
•Reg Court Magistrates raised concerns on the need re-
buy-in skill magistrates on practical civil law – it’s a long term
from objective. In the immediate term additional magistrates
role will be appointed to deal with the expected increased
work load
players •Judges – want to be actively involved in the
implementation, including training programmes – this will
achieved through the Judicial Education Institute
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Budget Allocation – R51m for 2008/9
Budget will be used for:
• Creation of 53 posts of Regional Court Magistrates in designated
courts. Using the population demographics and case load patterns
the suggested case allocation is as follows: (R35m)
EC – 9; FS – 4; Gauteng – 12; KZN – 9; Limpopo – 4;
Mpumalanga – 3;
NC -2; NW – 2; WC - 8
• Creation of 43 Regional Court Registrars to be allocated
proportionally to all provinces (R12,2m)
• Training for newly recruited magistrates and clerks of court (R5m)
• The re-training of existing Reg Court magistrates on practical civil
law will constitute part of the allocation of the Judicial Education
Institute
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Integration of Divorce Courts
• Divorce Courts including their existing structures will be integrated into the
regional divisions in their provinces of location; structural adjustments and
capacity in provinces where they sat in circuits are being phased in as
part of the implementation plan
• Main additional capacity will be from magistrates; and structural
adjustment to the judicial structures are being discussed with the
Magistrates Commission as part of the broader rationalisation of the
courts;
• The shift of civil jurisdiction to the regional courts will obviously assist in
reducing the workload of the High Courts and the need for such a high
number of additional judges.
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THANK YOU
Questions
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