OWN CORRESPONDENT, Cape Town | Friday 5.00pm.
JUSTICE Minister Dullah Omar has said that the the transformation of the judiciary must be speeded up. Speaking on Friday after the week’s outcry over the handling of the SA Rugby Football Union’s successful application to have a commission of inquiry overturned, Omar said the judiciary’s accountability should also be addressed.
He did not comment on the way in which Judge William de Villiers had handled the case. But he said ways had to be found to deal with complaints against judicial officers.
“The problem of how to deal with elements who continue to owe allegiance to the old apartheid order and refuse to adjust to the new democratic order must also be dealt with.”
De Villiers’ criticism of the performance of President Nelson Mandela and Sports Minister Steve Tshwete as witnesses in the Sarfu case has led to accusations that De Villiers is a remnant of the former regime.
Omar said he was not satisfied with the pace of transformation in the judiciary, although many judges and magistrates were performing their duties in line with the ethos of the new constitutional order. “It must be said that there are numerous complaints from all parts of the country about the conduct and attitude of judicial officers which reflect their refusal to change.” It would be the duty of the Judicial Service Commission and the Magistrates’ Commission to address the transformation and accountability of the judiciary without undermining its independence, Omar said. *
Omar on Friday night opened a unit for practical legal training, which aims to contribute to transforming the country’s legal profession. Opening the unit at a ceremony at Vista Univerity’s Port Elizabeth campus, Omar said: “We must ensure that standards of legal practice continually rise and that the profession becomes representative of the South African society.” The low number of black lawyers in private practice and in the public service sector needs to be addressed, as does the number of women, Omar said.