Ramaphosa to make judiciary fully independent of justice department
President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced he is working on making the judiciary fully independent and that it will no longer rely on the government, even for its finances.
This comes after a meeting Ramaphosa had with members of the judiciary earlier this month where, led by chief justice Mandisa Maya, they raised concern about being too reliant on the state.
Though by its nature the judiciary is an independent third arm of the state along with the executive and the legislature, its functions remain under the control of the department of justice and constitutional development.
This means the judiciary has to get approval on a range of issues including budget and filling of vacancies from the minister of justice.
Ramaphosa used his address at the Constitutional Court's 30th birthday celebration to announce he has set up a team that will work on making the judiciary fully independent of the government.
Like the executive and the legislature, the judiciary will now independently run its affairs and will have its budget allocated directly by the Treasury.
Ramaphosa said the dependence of the judiciary on the government has been odd.
'A joint committee is now in action to finalise this whole process of the independence of the judiciary. It has been an anomaly of our constitutional architecture that we've had parliament as an independent institution in our constitution fully and properly recognised, and the executive — but the judiciary has on an unfair basis had to depend on government on a variety of matters from getting approval on the appointment of people and not even being in complete control of their own budget,' said Ramaphosa.
'This comes to an end now. The judiciary will be independent. We will ensure the judiciary is rightly constituted as an equal branch of the state, same level as the executive and the legislature.'
At the meeting with the senior leaders of the judiciary led by the chief justice earlier this month, Ramaphosa and minister of justice Mmamoloko Kubayi committed to ensuring the independence of the state.
'Within the principle of the separation of powers, each arm of the state has a responsibility to co-operate with, and provide support to, the other arms of the state in giving full effect to our constitution. It requires, in particular, that we create conditions in which each arm of the state can fulfil their respective mandates without hindrance,' said Ramaphosa at the time.
'It is an opportunity to develop common approaches on issues that are critical to the effective functioning of the judiciary. At the core of our deliberations is our shared commitment to safeguarding and entrenching the independence of the judiciary and ensuring that it has the space and means to administer justice.'
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said as much as the judiciary has always been independent, some aspects including its finances have been under the department.
'It's always been independent but on some administrative aspects they were dependent on the department. So those administrative areas will now be fully managed by the judiciary as they should be,' he said.
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