In SA the handing down of judgments by our superior courts is governed by judicial norms and standards, with the aim of ensuring timely and efficient delivery. Generally, judgments should be handed down on a fixed date, but they can be reserved, if necessary, with a target to deliver within three months of the last hearing.

However, the recommended three months has been informally stretched to six months as the judiciary buckles under the weight and volume of work it receives from an increasingly litigious population. The rate of population expansion has outstripped the rate of expansion of the judiciary, leading to lengthy delays in the handing down of judgments in matters that are important to the public.

The mandate of the Constitutional Court has also been significantly expanded, but the size of its bench has not. That court sits en banc, which means at least eight of the 11 justices have to partake in the decision-making in any given case. This system is ripe for urgent reform, but the political will and budget to do so are both lacking.

The EFF’s case regarding the president’s infamous “Phala Phala couch” was heard in November by the apex court, but judgment in the matter is still awaited, much to the chagrin of the nation. Retired chief justice Sandile Ngcobo and his panel ruled as long ago as November 2022 that the president has a case to answer.

Possible political skulduggery and palpable court delays have conspired to keep the nation waiting for finalisation of the matter. And still we wait.

This delay is a totally unsatisfactory state of affairs that requires urgent remedial attention. After all, justice delayed is justice denied (as UK prime minister William Gladstone put it in 1868) irrespective of the outcome of the matter.

Paul Hoffman SC
Director, Accountability Now