Oversight exposes Pretoria Courts' dysfunction
8 April 2024
DA Shadow Minister for Correctional Services, Janho Engelbrecht MP, and I conducted an oversight visit at Pretoria Magistrates’ and Pretoria High Court on Friday, 05 April.
The focus of the oversight was to look at the infrastructure of the court system, how the public interacts with the justice system, and make recommendations to the Minister of Justice on how things can be improved.
We arrived at Pretoria Magistrate Court at 10h30 on Friday and immediately noticed the lack of court staff in their offices and the many courtrooms standing empty, with only the maintenance and divorce courts still operating. Court personnel – at least those that we could track down – explained to us that on Fridays they start 30 minutes early, at 8h30, and end their day at 10h00. From 10h00 onward, it appeared that most of the courtrooms at the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court would sit empty for the rest of the day. For the record, normal magistrates’ court hours are 09h00 to 15h00, from Monday to Friday, with no exceptions.
Pretoria High Court was not much better, with the courtrooms also standing empty.