‘55% is not a failure,’ says Zondo on ConCourt not reaching judgment target

Outgoing Chief Justice Raymond Zondo says the decline in the performance of the Constitutional Court (ConCourt) is not as severe as it seems.

Zondo presented the judiciary’s annual report in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, on Friday.

This marked the last Judiciary Day to be hosted by the Chief Justice, as he retires at the end of August.

Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya will replace Zondo on 1 September, following her appointment by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

ConCourt performance

In his speech, Zondo announced that the judiciary achieved 11 out of 13 performance targets in the 2022/2023 financial year, reflecting an 85% success rate.

The incumbent Chief Justice said the two performance targets that were not achieved related to finalised ConCourt cases and criminal backlog matters.

Only 55% of ConCourt matters were finalised, failing to meet the target of 70%.

Zondo noted that the apex court had previously performed better than 55%.

“This issue is being investigated to establish exactly why there was such a big drop. But 55% is, of course, not a failure. It is simply not as good a pass as one would have liked,” he said on Friday.

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The Chief Justice highlighted the fact that the Constitution required 11 judges to hear new applications, which impacted the ConCourt’s work.

He reiterated his call to change the country’s supreme law in order to allow panels of three judges to preside over cases.

“Recently, the Constitutional Court took the position that in order for it to properly discharge its obligations and perform in an acceptable way, it will be necessary for an amendment to be made to the Constitution; so that it is able to dispose a number of matters without every justice having to take part in every case,” Zondo continued.

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“So if the Constitutional Court is able, after a constitutional amendment has been made to sit in panels in terms of disposing of applications, that would make a big difference.

“That does not necessarily mean that in terms of matters that get heard as appeals, the Constitutional Court would sit in panels.

“As things stand, we, in the Constitutional Court, take the view that as far as matters that would be heard are concerned, those matters will still be heard by the full panel.

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“But a lot of other applications would be disposed of without every justice of the Constitutional Court having to be involved.”

Zondo further pointed out that the ConCourt’s work was affected by a lack of resources.

“We have proposed to the executive that experienced lawyers be employed, who would provide support to the justices of the Constitutional Court and, therefore, make their load lighter.

“We are going to wait to hear from the executive whether they go along with the constitutional amendment as well as giving us more resources.”

Superior courts performance

Zondo revealed that an overwhelming majority of the superior courts performed excellently, either reaching or exceeding their targets.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) exceeded its targets by finalising 85% of matters, surpassing the 80% goal.

Additionally, the SCA finalised 91% of applications and petitions against the same target.

In all nine provinces, the high court divisions achieved an 83% finalisation rate for criminal matters.

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The target was 75%. For civil matters, the high courts achieved an 85% rate against a 64% target.

The Electoral Court achieved a remarkable 100%, surpassing its target of 90%. Overall, 72% of reserved judgments in all superior courts were finalised, slightly surpassing the 70% target.

Meanwhile, the target for reducing the criminal case backlog at all superior courts was set at 30%, which was also successfully achieved.

“Taking all the superior courts, we were not able to achieve that target. We were only able to reduce backlog up to the average of 47%, which means that this will have to be a work in progress and, hopefully, in the next annual report, we will perform better,” he said on Friday.