Judicial Bills put on hold ‘for now’

This move comes amid mounting concerns from judges who fear their independence is under threat. Speaking at a conference on judicial transformation by the Institute of Democracy in SA yesterday, the Transvaal Judge President, Bernard Ngoepe, said that while there had been some key agreements between judges and the government of a few of the contentious issues, all Bills but the Superior Courts Bill had been put on the back-burner ‘for now as a result of concerns raised by the judiciary’. Ngoepe is part of a small group of judicial representatives who meet regularly with the government to iron out contentious problems. Among the Bills affected are the Judicial Services Commission Amendment Bill, the Judicial Conduct Tribunal Bill and the SA National Justice Training College Bill.
The Mercury report not available online