Retired Judge of the High Court, Justice Poswa, has raised concern about the shortage of judges in the country and encouraged advocates to look beyond arguing matters before court but to acquire skills so they could become the good judges that South Africa needs.
Judge Poswa was a keynote speaker at the end of the induction celebration of Advocates for Transformation (AFT) in Durban, which was held at Hue Cafe. He said the courts needed black judges.
“We want people to go there with knowledge and be capable, not because they are black. When I speak about black, I am including the Indian and Coloured communities,” he said.
Moreover, he said in order for the legal practitioners to have courage and be confident to apply to be on the bench they must be knowledgeable. Otherwise the attorneys and advocates would not have respect for them.
“If you are inadequate, you won’t become a Judge,” he added.
He said the AFT, National Association of Democratic Lawyers (Nadel), and Pan African Bar Association of South Africa (PABASA) are black legal organisations and they must ensure that they provide adequately. He said this would encourage junior advocates to prepare themselves for being judges.
“When we started, we never dreamt of it. I never thought I could become a judge,” said Poswa.
He encouraged the government to equally distribute work among legal practitioners so that they could be exposed to different matters, as this is a skill they would require when they become judges.
Alison Tilley from the Judges Matter expressed the same concern about the shortage of judges.
“There doesn’t appear to be any meaningful process at the moment which would increase the number of judges. We know that there is a serious backlog because of the shortages, particularly the cases in Gauteng,” she said.
She said there was a rationalisation of courts project which is being led by Justice Dikgang Moseneke in order to look at some issues around courts and where they should sit but they were not moving fast on it.
Tilley said one of the issues at hand were the candidates coming for interviews at the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) not being strong enough. She said advocates would specialise in criminal law and not have much experience with civil law.
