House Chairperson, hon Deputy President and hon members, I am pleased to stand before you today to speak on behalf of the ANC in support of the Superior Courts Bill. I am pleased because the completion of this Bill by the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development serves to mark yet another milestone on the road towards the transformation of the judicial system under our fairly new constitutional democracy.
A look at the various policy documents of the ANC, beginning with the pre- 1994 Constitutional Guidelines for a Democratic South Africa, 1989, and moving on to the organisation's main policy-making national conferences, shows the commitment to the creation of an egalitarian democratic order that is based on the principles of the separation of powers between the three main arms of the state, namely the executive, the legislature and the judiciary. Each one of these arms of state is crucial to the attainment of the ideal society for which we are all striving. The Constitution enjoins these arms to assist one another to attain their stated objectives while respecting one another's terrains of operation.
To this end the executive duly introduced the Superior Courts Bill as far back as 2003. The legislature fulfilled its own responsibility by placing the Bill before the South African public and calling for the submission of views for its consideration. In the character of our democratic order, robust debate ensued, resulting in necessary delays in the finalisation of the Bill. I believe that as a committee we are all happy with the final product. Importantly, however, the members of the judiciary themselves are satisfied.
The Bill provides a legislative measure that assists and protects the superior courts in order to ensure their independence, impartiality, dignity, accessibility and effectiveness. It further addresses the question of the rationalisation and composition, as well as areas of jurisdiction, of the High Courts, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court, and makes it clear beyond a doubt that the latter is the supreme court of the land, with its head being the Chief Justice of South Africa.
As the head of the judiciary, the Chief Justice is empowered to fulfil his responsibility and exercise authority over the development of norms and standards for the exercising of judicial functions, such as the allocation of court cases and court rooms to judges. As the first among equals, he is expected to exercise his powers in conjunction with the relevant heads of court.
The interdependence of the three arms of state, separate and independent as they are, requires that the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development considers and addresses the financial and other resource needs of the supreme courts. The Bill provides a way for the discharging of this responsibility.
The secretary-general, as the officer in charge of the office of the Chief Justice, an institution considered as a department in its own right, is charged with the responsibility of accounting for the monies voted by Parliament for the administration and functioning of the superior courts. I am certain that hon members would not like to see the spectacle of the Chief Justice coming before Scopa to answer for findings of emphasis and the like by the Auditor-General.
In the view of the ANC, which is generally the view of the great majority of the people of our land, the idea of a transformed judiciary goes beyond changing its racial and gender composition. The idea of transformation is that of also changing the mindset of the judiciary to ensure that the justice system realises the goal of a unified South Africa, free of racism, sexism, poverty and general deprivation.
Understandably, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Appeal is somewhat reduced by the fact that appeals from the Labour Appeal Court and the Competition Appeal Court can be taken directly to the Constitutional Court which, as we now know, is empowered to deal also with any other matter brought before it on appeal, on the grounds of what the Bill calls arguable points of law of general public importance in the eyes of the court itself. Of course, the compelling reason behind allowing appeals from these two specialised courts to circumvent the Supreme Court of Appeal is the need to ensure the speedy resolution of labour and economic disputes.
The seats of the various divisions of the High Court of South Africa are now clearly defined, thereby removing all grounds for doubt. Each province has one main seat, as well as local seats where necessary. While some of us would have loved to have the seats of our courts given the geographical names of the new order, the committee was constrained by fact that most of these new municipal and town names are yet to be finalised in terms of relevant legislation.
On behalf of the portfolio committee, I also wish to thank Advocates De Lange, J B Skosana and Smuts for patiently moving along with us as we debated the Bill, changing clauses and reverting to the original formulations now and again. And, as I said before, the ANC supports the Superior Courts Bill. [Applause.]