DGRU has completed a number of research reports mainly with a focus on the functionng of the courts.
For any reports on the Judicial Service Commission appointments and conduct processes please go to the Judges Matter website
2026 research reports:
The Quiet Collapse of the South African Specialised Commercial Crimes Courts
Over the past 25 years, the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit has grown fifteenfold — yet convictions have collapsed to fewer than one per prosecutor per year. The official explanation points to rising case complexity. This report tests that claim against new evidence.
Adjudication of Complex Money Laundering cases in South African: a diagnostic report
This Diagnostic Report, written by Adv Hermione Cronje and developed by the DGRU with the support of the World Bank and United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s (UNODC) Stolen Asset Recovery Initiative (StAR), draws on empirical data, comparative international experience, and the collective expertise of judges, prosecutors, investigators, academics, and policymakers. The report identifies the causes of delay and underperformance in the adjudication of complex commercial crime, corruption, and money laundering cases, and sets out a comprehensive programme of reform. It was developed to support South Africa’s response to the decision by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) to place the country on the list of jurisdictions subject to increased monitoring (the FATF grey list) in February 2023, following a 2019 Mutual Evaluation identifying critical deficiencies in the investigation, prosecution, and adjudication of serious money laundering cases. The country was removed from the grey list on 24 October 2025 after completing all 22 items in its action plan. However, a routine Mutual Evaluation is scheduled for 2027, and the risk of re-listing remains real unless the systemic failures identified in this Report are addressed.
2025 research reports:
Across the Southern African Development Community, judiciaries typically receive less than one percent of the national budget — and in several jurisdictions, the office of the president alone is allocated more than the entire judicial branch. Budget formulation, fund administration, salaries and expenditure reporting are largely controlled by the executive, with few explicit legal guarantees of judicial financial autonomy. This report examines those arrangements across the region and sets out recommendations for constitutional reform, regional principles, inter-branch dialogue and strategic litigation.
2023 Research reports:
ISIDIMA – MAGISTRATES COURT USER SURVEY REPORT 2023
This survey of six courts in two provinces provides some insights on the state of South African courts today, from the perspective of users of the courts.
UNDER PRESSURE: THE MAGISTRACY AFTER COVID-19
In 2019, the DGRU conducted its inaugural survey of South African Magistrates, investigating their perceptions of their work environment. The research highlighted several challenges that Magistrates face, ranging from high work pressure to inadequate physical infrastructure and administrative support. This 2022 iteration of the survey sought to track change in these measures and to introduce a new set of questions relating to issues of concern.
2020 research reports:
The Coalface Of Justice: An Analysis of Misconduct Proceedings against Magistrates in South Africa
This report looks specifically at the regulation of magistrates’ conduct, and in particular the disciplinary processes followed by the Magistrates Commission. We sought to compare negative perception by ordinary South Africans of corruption in the magistracy with empirical data regarding magistrates’ conduct. To this end, we conducted research into complaints lodged with the Magistrates Commission. The report sets out the formal disciplinary process, including the procedures for lodging complaints, investigating and prosecuting alleged misconduct, provisional suspension, and removal from office. We examine empirical records from the Magistrates Commission and Parliament, as well as additional material from the Parliamentary Monitoring Group.
Assessing the Functioning of Urban Traditional Courts in South Africa
An exploratory analysis of the functioning of an urban traditional court.
Given that traditional (chief ’s) courts have jurisdiction to hear certain matters at the level of magistrate’s courts, this paper examines how people experience the
traditional courts and what their perceptions are of levels of corruption at these courts.
2019 research reports:
The 2019 Survey of South African Magistrates’ Perceptions of their Work
Environment
This survey is part of the DGRU research project on the South African
Magistracy. The results of this survey are combined with other DGRU projects on the South African Judiciary to inform and improve policy recommendations, the training of magistrates, as well as educating the South African
public about the state of the judiciary in the country.Given the importance of the magistracy in providing access to justice, as well as their increasing role as providing judges of the high court, we wanted to survey magistrates in order to understand their own perception of their role, and highlight the challenges they are experiencing.
2017 research:
Lilongwe Principles and Guidelines on the Selction and Appointment of Judicial Officers
adopted at the Southern African Chief Justices’ Forum Conference and Annual General Meeting, Lilongwe, 30 October 2018
At its 2015 Annual Conference, the Southern African Chief Justices’ Forum (SACJF), made a firm commitment towards improving both the institutional independence of judiciaries and the decisional independence of judges. The forum noted that one of the key processes which enhances judicial independence is the selection and appointment of judicial officers. To that end it adopted a resolution to:
Establish an ad hoc team of Judicial Service Commissions from the region to work towards developing regional principles and guidelines on selection and appointment of judges in Africa to be presented to the SACJF for discussion and adoption at its 2017 Annual Conference.
The ad hoc working group contemplated by the 2015 resolution drafted the principles and guidelines, drawing on research by the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit (DGRU) of the University of Cape Town, and also taking into account international and regional declarations and instruments relating to judicial appointments.
From its research and consultations, the working group has compiled these principles and guidelines to assist jurisdictions in the development of legislation, policy and practice on the selection and appointment of judicial officers. The overriding purpose of the guiding principles and best practices is to safeguard the independence and integrity of the judiciary.
The working group is cognisant that judicial independence is ensured through the integrity of the selection and appointment process along with security of tenure of judicial officers. This process also enhances public confidence and trust in the administration of justice.
2010 research
The ideal South African Judge
In 2010 the DGRU commissioned Advocate Susannah Cowen to write a paper on the qualities of the ideal South African Judge. Read the paper " Judicial Selection and Appointment"