The justice system needs to find ways to combat a court system that is ‘frustrating, slow and technologically backward’. In an editorial on the GroundUp site its editors suggest tardy lawyers and judges should be penalised for delaying justice, and say our courts need ‘to go digital and get organised’.

Citing examples of cases that have been postponed multiple times – in some instances stretching over several years – they say when lawyers delay cases without good reason they need to be punished. ‘All too often, cases are postponed for the flimsiest of reasons, such as one of the sides not being sufficiently prepared.

Or a criminal’s favourite: because of a change in lawyers.

There should be repercussions for lawyers who ask for postponements without good reason,’ says the editorial. There should also be consequences for judges who deliver late judgments, it is argued.

Noting the Chief Justice has said all reserved judgments must be delivered within three months, the writers point out out the Constitutional Court itself took more than five months to deliver the critical Shaun Abrahams judgment, ’paralysing the President’s ability to fix the NPA, where the High Court in the same case gave judgment in just 10 days’.

They add: ‘Whether it’s docked salaries, demerit points, or perhaps just a bit of embarrassment with one’s peers, the Chief Justice has to take action against tardy judges.’

Noting the JSC is supposedly sanctioning judges who deliver judgments late, the editors say ‘the same sickness – endless delays and postponements – is crippling that very process’.

They also suggest every court should be compelled to list the status of its cases, and all judgments should be uploaded into an online, publicly searchable, database.

‘The Chief Justice has committed to getting courts working electronically. That includes the serving, filing, and lodging of documents. That’s great; it needs to happen yesterday,’ GroundUp concludes.

Full GroundUp report