The DGRU Judges Matter team which is known as a judicial monitoring, transparency and accountability watchdog, presented a paper titled "Monitoring Judicial Appointments through a Scorecard Approach" on 2 July 2026, as part of the 2026 Public Law Conference.

The Public Law Conference was hosted by the Faculty of Law at the University of Cape Town under the theme "Public Law and the Future of Constitutional Democracy." The theme carried particular weight this year, marking the 30th anniversary of South Africa's democratic Constitution of 1996, a milestone that invites reflection on the country's history of government founded on systemic racism, exploitation and injustice, and on what it takes to safeguard constitutional democratic values and the rule of law going forward.

The conference drew delegates from across Africa, including Canada and New Zealand.

The Judges Matter team's draft paper which is currently awaiting publication, examines the importance of consistent application of criteria in judicial appointments, as set out in the JSC's April 2023 Criteria and Guidelines for Judicial Appointments. Using the consistency of questioning by JSC commissioners as a proxy for fairness and transparency, the paper evaluates the JSC's performance against its own stated criteria and guidelines.

This scrutiny goes to the heart of a constitutional democracy The calibre of judges is closely linked to the rigour of the judicial selection process, and a credible, consistent selection process produces strong judges by reinforcing public confidence in the judiciary and the rule of law more broadly.