‘I don’t know the answer,’ responds judge to Malema’s question about land

The second day of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) interviews kicked off on Tuesday, with Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema grilling Judge Susannah Cowen on land questions.

The JSC interviewed three candidates for the position of Deputy Judge President in the Land Court.

Cowen has been Acting Deputy Judge President of the Land Court since 22 May and was the first candidate to take the hot seat.

Land Court challenges

She listed access to the court as one of the challenges, saying that most South Africans have no idea that a Land Court exists or where they can find it.

There is also a backlog of claims, which could cost billions of rand to resolve.

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“The challenges that we are facing in restitution cases are immense, it’s right to prioritise them. The big challenge is the backlog of claims launched before 1998, we are looking at just under 6,000 claims that have to be finalised,” said Cowen.

“This is not factoring in the new-order claims [post-1998], which are currently interdicted – tens of thousands – and cannot be processed by the commission.

“The commission is telling us at the moment, that it’s going to take 30 years to settle the claims at a cost of R172 billion.

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“To have an effective land restitution case, litigants and claimants need to have access to more than lawyers. Often, what they need is historians and experts, and land surveyors.”

For the court to function fully, it would need to hire eight more judges over time.

Malema on Cowen’s reserved judgments

Malema grilled Cowen about the number of reserved judges she had on her roll.

“At the time I submitted my form, I had seven reserved judgments, but none of those is outstanding as I sit here. There is only one new reserved judgment that is within the three-month period,” responded Cowen.

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“You cleared them for this purpose?” Malema asked further, to which she responded: “I always clear my judgments.”

“No, they were outstanding not so long ago and before you come, they’re all cleared,” commented Malema.

“I always clear judgments,” she insisted.

‘I have not engaged it in the legal sense’

The EFF leader further questioned the judge whether it would be unconstitutional to pass a bill which allows for the state to be a custodian of the land, with full land use rights guaranteed.

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Cowen said that although she was aware of the political debate around the issue, she had not engaged with it from a legal point of view.

“I am aware of the political debates around this, which are important debates which speak to matters that are important to South Africans,” said Cowen.

“However, I don’t know the answer and I have not engaged it in the legal sense, I have thought about it in a political sense. I have not sat down and tried to work it out from a legal point of view. The simple answer is that I don’t know the answer.”

Following deliberations, the commission recommended Cowen’s appointment.

The interviews fo other posistions continue.

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