Constitutional Court: where are the judgments?
Constitutional Court: where are the judgments? The Court has not delivered a single judgment this year.
On 9 April, Nurina Ally and Mbekezeli Benjamin co-authored a GroundUp oped ‘Constitutional Court: where are the judgments’?
As at that date, the Constitutional Court had not handed down a single judgment for the year. While the Court’s workload challenges are well-known, reforms to address the problem have not inspired confidence. The two Law Faculty researchers and authors of this article, Ally and Benjamin, caution that proposals by the Court to dispense with fully reasoned judgments owing to workload challenges may undermine its democracy and accountability-reinforcing role. They suggest that structural changes are needed to ensure both the efficient administration of justice and upholding the court’s role as a forum for reason.
The article was re-published by several outlets, including Business Day, and featured in Legalbrief. Mbekezeli conducted several interviews on the issue, speaking to Voice of the Cape, Radio 702, and eNCA. Shortly after the article was published, the Court announced the hand down of the first two judgments of the year.