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Many of the recorder’s computers were damaged, so they could not function, even if there was Wi-Fi.
The private contractors hired to manage the technology had left the building and “their contract will not be renewed.” The role of contractors is to administer Case Lines, the court’s online document management system, and to allow virtual meetings. The Case Lines employees, who helped with invitations to attend the virtual hearings, had also not renewed their contracts.
In addition to these technical hurdles, there were too few judges to handle too many cases, and 129 were not placed on the list last Monday because of this.
As of Wednesday, Monday’s list had not yet been finalized and the cases had not been assigned to the judges.
“The lawyers are complaining … They are having to pay fees to the lawyers even if the matter is not assigned to them,” the judge said in her WhatsApp message.
“A lawyer suggested sending each (available) judge 30 cases. But even if I do that, which I won’t, we’ll only get past Monday and half of Tuesday’s list for a whole week. “
He said that in the first three days (of this court session) there were seven requests for urgent requests that were well founded. “We don’t have dates or judges available to hear them, but I’m trying to accommodate them.”
He said that while cases can be heard “virtually”, the default position is that trials must be heard in public.
“I approached seven judges yesterday for a two-week special trial, listed on the list, to be heard in court for good reason, and all seven flatly refused.” This is apparently due to Covid-19 concerns.
He said there was also a large backlog of petitions.
“I share this so that there is some understanding of the frustration in court. This office is inundated with personal and email inquiries caused by our infrastructure collapse. “
One defender, who appears often in court, said that conducting trials during the pandemic was a problem, but that the virtual system worked well, if there was adequate internet access.
The shortage of judges in Gauteng was a long-standing problem, he said, and the problems that were being experienced were not due to mismanagement of the court, but to inefficiencies in the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ).
Another source said: “How does a court handle a pandemic without the internet? The leadership of the court is decent exemplary people who are doing a competent job. The problem is that they don’t get the resources they need. “
Alison Tilley of the watchdog group Judges Matter said: “The effect of Covid on the courts is very concerning. Outdated and inadequate IT infrastructure is clearly a problem and needs to be addressed. “
The Council on Legal Practice told GroundUp that it was aware of the issues in the Gauteng Superior Court and was trying to address them.
We reached out to OCJ spokesperson Nathi Mncube for comment, giving details of the judge’s WhatsApp message. But, he said he wanted to see the message himself, to verify its authenticity, and couldn’t help without it.
- This article was first published by GroundUp
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