Détente between the judiciary and government was in the air this week after nearly half a decade of battles about the nature of the transformation process in the courts and charges against President Jacob Zuma.
At the second judges’ conference since 1994, Zuma and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe launched a well-received effort to win judicial hearts and minds, but judges are standing firm on the controversial Superior Courts Bill, aimed at handing administrative control of the courts to Radebe’s department.
Zuma opened the four-day conference on Monday by assuring members of the judiciary that the executive arm of government and the ANC respected the independence of the judiciary.
”The transformation of the judiciary should be advanced and undertaken without interfering with the principle of judicial independence,” Zuma said. ”An independent judiciary is one of the cornerstones of any democracy. As the executive, we respect without reservation the principle of judicial independence and the rule of law.”
Chief Justice Pius Langa who, with his fellow judges, has had to contend with direct personal attacks from the governing ANC and its alliance partners in the past, captured the mood when he reflected on the speeches delivered by Zuma and Radebe as the conference ended on Wednesday afternoon.
In his closing remarks Langa commented that ”he said the right things. But they were not just right, they were also inspiring because they were affirming. He was expressing his confidence in the judiciary and affirming the independence of the judiciary.”
Zuma made a point of acknowledging the role of ”progressive lawyers” in South Africa’s liberation struggle.
Judges who attended the conference told the Mail & Guardian they were convinced that their relationship with government and the ANC was on the mend. The majority feeling was that the executive was ”sincere in upholding judicial independence”. But they emphasised that the battle concerning the Superior Courts Bill was not over.
Their public remarks bore this out. A resolution read out by Langa stated: ”The judiciary should be empowered to administer courts and its own budget. To this extent the judiciary will work with, and cooperate with, other branches of government to develop a model of court administration that best reflects the principle of judicial independence.”
At a gala dinner on Monday night, after Zuma’s speech, Radebe continued the overtures when he reassured the judges that there were no hidden agendas, saying that he and his deputy, Andries Nel, would ensure ”what judges see is what judges get”.
Responding, Langa told delegates: ”I thought that this was very good … we are going to have a lot of interaction with that [department of] justice and constitutional development and we hope that will always be … that what we see is what we get.”
Departing from his prepared text to ”talk from the heart”, Radebe said he felt it was important that judges should know him. He said that although he had not practised as a lawyer, he had spent time in the legal fraternity while doing his articles and studied towards a master’s of law degree in Germany.
He had decided to become a lawyer after he received ”mathematics lessons” from Steve Biko, who instilled Black Consciousness thinking in him. This led him to study law as opposed to medicine, his initial interest.
He said he had played a pivotal role in the formation of the ANC’s constitutional department and singled out Constitutional Court Judge Albie Sachs, in the room at the time, as one of his colleagues.
He was loudly applauded when he said he had no intention of amending the Constitution and would consult on contentious issues arising from the proposed reform of the judicial system.
The conference adopted various resolutions affecting the judiciary, including the recognition of a single judiciary with the chief justice at the helm.
Radebe began his consultation process this week by visiting Constitution Hill.