Zondo: Court modernisation crucial for improving service delivery

Acting Chief Justice Raymond Zondo said the modernization of the courts and digital transformation initiatives remain crucial for improving service delivery.

Zondo on Tuesday presented to the public the Judiciary’s Annual Performance Report for the 2020/21 Financial Year.

This included how they performed judicial functions over the period, the number of cases they had, how many have been finalized, how long it took to finalize them, and details about the backlog in the courts.

Zondo said as part of court modernization, Court Online was partially implemented with the rollout of case lines at the Gauteng Division of the High Court.

“The judiciary was not spared from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its operations and had to quickly adapt to the new normal switch from physical to virtual court proceedings and operations,” he said.

Zondo said the Constitutional Court had set for itself a target of 70% of finalized matters. It had 445 matters and finalized 273 of them.

“That was a 61% performance. Although it fell short of its target, there was a 10% increase in its case load,” said Zondo.

The Supreme Court of Appeal had set for itself a target of 80% of finalized matters during the period under review. It had a total of 241 matters and it finalized 196.

“That was an achievement of 81%. In regards to its applications of petitions a finalized 99%.”

Zondo said the various Divisions of the High Court had a total of 11,413 criminal cases — and they finalized 9,749 of them, translating to 85%.

“Divisions that the High Court had set for themselves of 75% of finalized criminal matters and they achieved 85%. That was a great achievement. They exceeded their target,” he said.

Zondo said they made substantial progress in the gender transformation of the Judiciary, but have not yet reached the right level of representation of women.

-EWN

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