No money for corruption courts, Maya tells Malema at CJ interview
The feasibility of courts dedicated to prosecuting corruption cases was the last question posed on Supreme Court of Appeal President Mandisa Maya on Wednesday.
Maya faced barrage of questions from the Judicial Service Commission during the second day of interviews for the Chief Justice position.
Gender equality and transformation were at the centre of Maya’s interview, with panelists showing great interest in how she plans to tilt the scales towards empowering women in the legal fraternity.
If appointed, Maya would be the first female Chief Justice in the country.
Maya also made several suggestions on ensuring access to justice and on improving the country’s judicial processes.
While she admitted that there were some obstacles to overcome, Maya assured the country’s judiciary was not faced with a crisis.
“Yes, it is not perfect but there is still an efficient system of administration in place but there’s a lot of work to be done to get the institution operating optimally to exercise its constitutional mandate.
“As we all know, loss of confidence in the judiciary does not order well for the rule of law in our democracy and I think this is something that needs the attention of the judiciary itself to do an introspection and check if we are to blame for this change of attitude towards the institution,” said Maya.
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Some of the country’s top legal minds have come under fire in recent months, including acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo.
For much of last year, Zondo was embroiled in a public spat with former president Jacob Zuma with Zuma’s supporters casting doubt on the impartiality of the judiciary.
On Wednesday, Zondo released part 2 of the State Capture report - again implicating Zuma of having a hand in the collapse of some state-owned enterprises.
With that in mind, JSC commissioner and EFF leader Julius Malema asked Maya if she would consider corruption courts if installed as Chief Justice.
“Shouldn’t we have have special courts dedicated to corruption so that once an investigation is done then the decision is taken to prosecute, you have a court that is dedicated to this corrupt matter,” Malema said to Maya.
“This matter corruption is a big problem in this country and it must be attended specially and attentively.
“If you elected, are you amenable to consider some special court to attend to corruption cases?” Malema asked.
In a brief response, Maya redirected the task of considering the idea to Justice Minister Donald Lamola.
“I think every right thinking South African would agree that that’s a fine idea but I don’t know if we would be able create such courts within the resources that we have now,” Maya said.
“The courts are currently struggling with their workload, we are short-staffed, we all know what’s going on.
“I guess it would depend on whether the Minister, if the idea was posited to him, did not come back with the usual answer that Treasury says there is no money.”
With two candidates down, the JSC will hear from Gauteng Judge president Dunston Mlambo on Thursday.
