The Constitutional Court has outstanding judgments and a poorly-maintained website. The Office of the Chief Justice is mum on these matters.
The Constitutional Court ha has four outstanding judgments though many more are listed on its poorly-maintained website.
The Constitutional Court is setting a poor example by failing to deliver judgments timeously. South Africa’s apex court currently has four late judgments outstanding and many others have been delivered late this year.The judicial norms and standards explain that judgments in both civil and criminal matters should generally not be reserved without a fixed date for handing them down.
The judicial norms and standards state that except for “exceptional cases where it is not possible to do so, every effort shall be made to hand down judgments no later than three months after the last hearing”. After GroundUp asked the Office of the Chief Justice last week about the 21 matters listed as “still awaiting judgment” on the Constitutional Court’s website, it seems to have been updated. The site now lists 18 outstanding judgments.But some of the cases listed are years old even though they have been finalised, and other matters where we know judgments have already been delivered still feature on this list.