Makhanda high court back in spotlight in rationalisation bid
Interim report recommends moving Eastern Cape division to Bhisho
The interim report of the government’s committee to rationalise the areas served by SA’s high courts has recommended the seat of the Eastern Cape division of the court be moved from Makhanda to the provincial capital, Bhisho.
The committee, headed by retired deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke, states that “ordinarily the main seat of a provincial division of the high court is located at the capital of the province.
“It follows that in the Eastern Cape too, the same situation should prevail.”
The committee has also made important recommendations relating to the jurisdiction of the various local high courts in the province, correcting anomalies in legal practice which have been in place since the apartheid era.
In many cases, the distances that litigants have been forced to travel to attend high court hearings will be halved by the recommended jurisdictions, which accord with the province’s eight magisterial districts.
East London and 10 towns in the former “white corridor ”— established to separate the high court and the people it served in white SA from those in the homelands — will be removed from Makhanda and divided between the Bhisho and Mthatha high courts.
East London, Komga, Qonce, Cathcart, Stutterheim and Komani will be included under Bhisho, while Barkly East, Khowa (formerly Elliot), Indwe, Nqanqarhu (formerly Maclear) and Ugie will fall under Mthatha.
These recommendations affirm a November 2003 jurisdictional notice issued by the government that was never implemented.
For litigants from Barkly East, it will cut the travelling time to get to a high court from five hours to less than three.
Qonce residents will avoid a 96minute drive to Makhanda by litigating
a few kilometres away in Bhisho.
Tsomo and Cofimvaba, formerly served by the Bhisho high court, will now fall under Mthatha.
Matatiele, located in the Eastern Cape but until now served by the Pietermaritzburg high court in KwaZulu-Natal, will in future also fall within the jurisdiction of the Mthatha high court.
Kirkwood and Addo will be included in the Gqeberha high court’s jurisdiction, while Dikeni (formerly
Alice) and Middledrift will now fall under Bhisho.
But it is the recommended shift of the seat of the court away from Makhanda which is likely to raise the most discussion.
For much of the constitutional dispensation, the legal fraternity in that city has united against moving the seat of the court. Before issuing its interim report, the committee heard representations from the department of justice, judge-president Selby
Mbenenge, the National Prosecuting Authority and Legal Aid SA.
It received input from some legal practitioners and said it would consider these once input had been elicited from other professional bodies and the public.
The committee specifically noted the justice department had made no recommendation about the location of the division’s main seat.
It is understood that Mbenenge, too, did not make submissions on the main
seat. Mbenenge declined to comment on Thursday because he had not yet seen the interim report. Other legal professionals approached for comment did not respond.
The recommended shifts in the jurisdiction will bump the estimated population served by the Bhisho high court to 1.8-million, including the Buffalo City Metro and the other former “white corridor” towns, making it the second busiest court in the province behind Mthatha.