SA judiciary 'untransformed'

2008-02-29 13:02

Cape Town - Creating a compliant and malleable judiciary will not bring about real transformation on the bench, the Law Society journal De Rebus says in its latest edition.

The Law Society represents South Africa's more than 20 000 attorneys and candidate attorneys.

In an editorial, the journal said there had been a worrying surge of disrespect for constitutional values, and institutions such as the judiciary, by political, youth and trade union groupings, some of them closely aligned to the African National Congress.

Some had gone so far as to say that ANC President Jacob Zuma, who is facing charges of corruption, could not expect a fair trial from the current judiciary, which they described as being "untransformed".

The fact was that the racial composition of the judiciary had been changing very rapidly, and it was likely that when appeal court president Craig Howie retired, all heads of courts would be black.

"Furthermore, we believe that real transformation requires the appointment of progressive judges, and not the creation of a compliant and malleable judiciary," the editorial said.

It said the legal profession had to remain vigilant to defend the judiciary from uninformed criticism and public attacks.

- SAPA