JSC interviews: Corruption at courts need urgent attention – Dunstan Mlambo

The judiciary is besieged by fraudulent court orders emanating from the country’s court operations, Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court Dunstan Mlambo said on Thursday.

Mlambo is the third of four candidates being interviewed for the chief justice position.

Outlining his vision for the country’s judiciary, he said he found out that it operated in a toxic environment and was attacked on a number of fronts.

Mlambo said the integrity and independence of the judiciary was attacked as a result of a polarised political space.

“You also have unfounded claims of corruption against judges. But more worrying, there is growing corruption involving court operations in South Africa. The corruption is not by judicial officers, I have to say.

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“This is in terms of the usage and circulation of false court orders, which bear the resemblance of a proper court order… and when one investigates, one finds out no such case was heard. This has to be attended to as it erodes the work of the judiciary.”

The chief justice nominee, who served as judge president of both the Labour Court and the Gauteng High Court, said he believed in visible leadership. He detailed how he made it his routine to visit judges in their chambers after he took over from his predecessor, Judge Bernard Ngoepe, in 2012. Judges went to the judge president, and not the other way around, said Mlambo.

“Judge Ngoepe only had chambers in Pretoria when I succeeded him. He did come to Joburg but on rare occasions, and I found out that I can have chambers in Johannesburg too. I told the judges that I would be visible and available to them… I check on them and some are surprised, and I assure them that I am just checking up on you, because that instils confidence in judges.”

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He raised concerns about inadequate resources for judges and magistrates, who also face a high case workload every day. He said Pretoria, with the busiest high court and the Labour Court, needed more capacity.

“You would know that the Minister [of Justice] established a team to look into resource capabilities, we need capacitated courts. Also, availability of research capacity for the high courts as well as magistrates leave a lot to be desired. The Gauteng division at any given time has a total complement of 85 judges, and each division has six researchers at its disposal. That’s woefully inadequate to help with research.”

Mlambo then gazed around the room and told the commissioners about some of the problems experienced at the Pretoria High Court.

“There are some counsels sitting here today who are complicit in the mischief, if I may call it, of forever bombarding that court with complex and involved special motions, which we have to bend over backwards to accommodate. They request full courts to hear those matters because of importance. So yes, the North Gauteng division is a very busy court… but we tell them to bring it on.”

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