LADY JUSTICE NEEDS HELP

A UCT report reveals a lack of support for those on the bench, from inadequate ‘tools of the trade’ to antagonistic staff in the chief justice’s office

Anew report on the state of the judiciary in Malawi, Namibia and SA gives rare insight into the work-related concerns of local judges. Members of the bench seldom speak on the record apart from through their decisions but, as part of this report, researchers from the Democratic Governance & Rights Unit at the University of Cape Town interviewed 52 high court judges from these three countries, and asked a number of important questions.

Salaries and benefits were a concern, with Namibian judges the most satisfied and those from Malawi the least. Across the board, however, judges said their workload is consistently high and increasing, but that new judges aren’t being appointed to help carry that burden.

There is concern about research support, an essential for judicial work. Most judicial researchers will have a law degree and some will also be admitted to practice, but

SA judges said their researchers were overworked and couldn’t meet the necessary deadlines, particularly when work for senior judges was prioritised at the expense of their more junior colleagues.

The high turnover of researchers prevented the development of institutional knowledge and even if they stayed with a court, researchers might still rotate between different divisions. One judge was now working with their fifth researcher in three years.

But what stood out in interviews with SA judges were their complaints about inadequate “tools of the trade” ,a difficulty that has become more pronounced with remote working under Covid. Inadequate online resources and poor digital infrastructure made their work more cumbersome and increased the “vulnerability” of the institution.

Among the problems listed was an expired Microsoft Teams licence, and unpaid subscriptions for online legal information services. One judge spoke of a security breach, as a result of which “I lost all my folders and cannot access my judicial e-mail address”.

“I am very scared to draw up my draft judgments on a work computer and send the draft judgment to a colleague for comments, especially if it’ sa high-profile case. Scared a hacker will get hold of it. Too much at risk.” Clearly, judges expect the kind of technology and security they take for granted in the legal world outside the bench. And fully functioning, fast, safe, reliable connectivity doesn’t seem an unreasonable expectation.

Judges are also concerned about the state of court buildings, complaining about missing alarm systems, inadequate police protection or broken airconditioning that make life difficult for everyone in court, including witnesses. As one put it, already overstressed witnesses will find it hard to function properly when heat is added to fatigue.

Surprising — and worrying

Another alarming SA issue to emerge is criticism of the office of the chief justice (OCJ), in particular communication failures and lack of responsiveness. It was said to be staffed by people not skilled in dealing with the needs of the judiciary, who are unhelpful, unsupportive and even “antagonistic” towards judges who bring problems to their attention.

The report comments that this is “somewhat surprising” because the OCJ was created precisely to help provide professional support to the chief justice in carrying out their functions and duties as head of the judiciary. One might therefore have assumed there would be good communication and internal organisation, but the responses of the judges interviewed suggest there is a need to reexamine how the OCJ can best serve judges’ needs.

Poor IT services and building infrastructure, with out-of-date research facilities, make it difficult for judges to be effective in their work, says the report. Combine this with “unresponsive leadership”, and it is difficult to see how these problems can be resolved soon.

This section of the report was finalised before the appointment of Raymond Zondo as new chief justice. He has a growing list of urgent matters for his attention, but judges will surely hope he prioritises problems highlighted in this report including IT issues and the OCJ’s poor responsiveness to their needs.