‘At least Zuma consulted us’ – Zondo unhappy about latest judiciary budget cuts

Outgoing Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has alleged that the executive did not consult with the judiciary before deciding to impose budget cuts.

Zondo held a Q&A session with the media after presenting the judiciary’s annual budget in Braamfontein, Johannesburg on Friday.

Zondo on judiciary budget cuts

During the media briefing, Zondo commented on the recent budget cuts for the judiciary, saying President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration failed to consult.

“These budget cuts and austerity measures were taken by the executive unilaterally.

“Nobody from the executive ever spoke to me as the Chief Justice to say we are contemplating budget cuts and austerity measures because of A, B, C, or D.

“Let’s have a meeting to see what can be done and what the position would be with the courts, no one has ever done that,” he told reporters.

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The Chief Justice revealed that government would consult the judiciary before making budgetary decisions under former president Jacob Zuma’s tenure.

“There was a meeting of all the heads of all three arms of the state that was called by president Zuma to discuss [matters] in advance,” Zondo continued.

He indicated that he wrote a letter asking for a meeting with the president, and several relevant ministers, but this has never taken place.

“I have received correspondence from the president that says he discussed the matter with the minister of finance and the minister of finance has responded.

“I’m not aware of any response that has come to me. The meeting that I wanted, where we would discuss these issues properly, has not happened,” the Chief Justice added.

Watch the briefing below:

Zondo highlighted that budget cuts have an impact on the judiciary’s work.

“It is important for the public to know that when we might not be performing the way we would like to perform in certain areas.

“We work under quite severe constraints because of, among others, the fact that certain decisions lie with the executive, they don’t with us.”

He further stated that at some point, the judiciary would need to reflect “very serious going forward as to how it should respond to this kind of treatment”.

Judicial independence

The Chief Justice also suggested the executive was ignoring aspects of judicial independence.

“It’s just not a priority to them. We are not asking for this institutional independence for ourselves.

“It’s for the benefit of the public because if we are able to make certain decisions close to where the operations are, that is going to help the service that judges give to the public.

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“The judiciary, the heads of courts will have to consider what needs to be done, but we all know we have lost of examples in this country where discussions take too long and they lead to nowhere and you have got to look at other ways of dealing with situations.”

The judiciary has been allocated a budget of R2.3 billion for the 2024/2025 financial year through the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ).

This represents a 13% decrease in the OCJ’s budget compared to the previous financial year.

Court administration

Earlier, Zondo was questioned about the impasse between the judiciary and the executive over the administration of South Africa’s courts.

The Chief Justice expressed his frustration, alleging the executive has not communicated about where it was willing to compromise.

“They haven’t said to us here are the points on which they won’t move and we haven’t reached a point where we also have that kind of position.”

Zondo stated that he did not comprehend why the judiciary needed to consult with the executive regarding matters such as court staff appointments.

“All these three arms of the state have to be equal… why are they getting involved in matters that are related to the judiciary?”.

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He revealed that he last met with Ramaphosa in December 2023, where they discussed allowing the judiciary to manage its own budget and funds.

“We accept that every cent must be accounted for, but we just say it’s inappropriate that it should be a member of the executive who accounts for those monies to Parliament. I get the impression that the executive wants to hold to that.

“If we are able to deal with all of these matters, I believe that we would improve quite a lot in terms of efficiency, in terms of the operations of the courts because the decisions would be taken closer to where the operations are.”