Оңтүстік Африка Конституциялық Соты

Supreme court of South Africa

The Constitutional Court of South Africa is a supreme constitutional court established by the Constitution of South Africa, and is the apex court in the South African judicial system, with general jurisdiction. The Court was first established by the Interim Constitution of 1993, and its first session began in February 1995. It has continued in existence under the Constitution of 1996. The Court sits in the city of Johannesburg. After initially occupying commercial offices in Braamfontein, it now sits in a purpose built complex on Constitution Hill. The first court session in the new complex was held in February 2004. Originally the final appellate court for constitutional matters, since the enactment of the Seventeenth Amendment of the Constitution in 2013, the Constitutional Court has jurisdiction to hear any matter if it is in the interests of justice for it to do so. The Constitutional Court consists of eleven judges who are appointed by the President of South Africa from a list drawn up by the Judicial Service Commission. The judges serve for a term of twelve years. The Court is headed by the Chief Justice of South Africa and the Deputy Chief Justice. The Constitution requires that a matter before the Court be heard by at least eight judges. In practice, all eleven judges hear almost every case. Decisions are reached by a majority and written reasons are given.

The movement for the establishment of a constitutional court in South Africa was begun in 1920 by the African National Congress (ANC). By 1956, judges and liberals in the country had drawn up a bill of rights in support of the creation of the court. The first meeting of selected members of the court took place in 1994. In 1995, President Nelson Mandela appeared at the court to deliver a speech for its commissioning. According to South African History Online Mandela said, "The last time I appeared in court was to hear whether or not I was going to be sentenced to death. Fortunately for myself and my colleagues we were not. Today I rise not as an accused, but on behalf of the people of South Africa, to inaugurate a court South Africa has never had, a court on which hinges the future of our democracy." The first court session in the new building at this location was held in February 2004. The court building is open to the public who want to attend hearings or view the art gallery in the court atrium. The court houses a collection of more than 200 contemporary artworks chosen by Constitutional Court judge Albie Sachs, including works by Gerard Sekoto, William Kentridge, and Cecil Skotnes. The doors to the Court have the 27 rights of the Bill of Rights carved into them, written in all 11 official languages of South Africa. One of the stairwells from the old awaiting trial block with the Portuguese words A luta continua (the struggle continues) written in lights, has been retained.

Sections 174 to 178 of the Constitution deal with the appointment of judicial officers. Judges may not be members of Parliament, of the government or of political parties. To select judges the Judicial Service Commission first draws up a list of candidates, which must have at least three more names than the number of vacancies. The Commission does this after calling for nominations and holding public interviews. Then the President, after consultation with the Chief Justice and the leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly, chooses the judges from this list. In terms of section 176(1) of the Constitution, judges of the Constitutional Court serve for a non renewable term of 12 years or until they reach the age of 70, whichever is earlier; but these limits may be extended by an Act of Parliament. Section 4 of the Judges' Remuneration and Conditions of Employment Act 47 of 2001 has extended the term limit to an effective term of 15 years including prior service on other courts. The effect is that judges who had served more than 3 years before their appointment to the Constitutional Court retain a 12 year term limit; those who did not, have a longer tenure. The same section extends the retirement age to 75. However, in terms of section 3(2)(b), if the judge has already been a judge (in any court) for 15 years by the time they reach the age of 65, they may voluntarily retire.

On 30 May 2008, the judges of the Constitutional Court issued a statement reporting that they had referred Cape Judge President Judge John Hlophe to the Judicial Service Commission for what they described in their statement as approaching some of them "in an improper attempt to influence this Court's pending judgement in one or more cases". The statement stated further that the complaint related to four matters in which either Thint (Pty) Ltd or the Deputy President, Jacob Zuma, was involved. Judge Hlophe was reported to have rejected the allegations as "utter rubbish" and as "another ploy" to damage his reputation. Justices Chris Jafta and Bess Nkabinde had been the primary complainants and had supported the Court's complaint. Six years later, however, when the misconduct enquiry against Hlophe was pending, Jafta and Nkabinde brought a court challenge to the tribunal's jurisdiction, saying their own complaint was not legally valid. Commentators slammed Jafta and Nkabinde's "cowardice", which had brought the Constitutional Court into disrepute. The judges claimed, in response, that they were simply upholding the Constitution. The High Court dismissed the judges' application on 26 September 2014, but they appealed. The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed that appeal in March 2016, criticising Jafta and Nkabinde's damaging court application and implying that the case raised questions about their "integrity". On 6 April 2016, Jafta and Nkabinde filed an appeal to the Constitutional Court – their own court – asking it to overturn the Supreme Court of Appeal's judgment. They did so partly on the basis that the SCA made "hurtful" imputations about them. The Constitutional Court had already held, in 2012, that it could not hear appeals in the Hlophe matter and that any SCA judgment was final.