The Deputy Judge President (“DJP”) of the Johannesburg High Court should be commended for publishing on 4 June 2024, a bulletin of lead times for the set down of matters for hearing by the Johannesburg High Court.
While for the unopposed motion roll, the special interlocutory applications roll, unopposed divorces, default judgments in Road Accident Fund matters, matters on the Family Court roll, matters on the criminal trial roll and special Tax Court matters, hearing dates are allocated within reasonable times, the lead times for the allocation of civil trial dates, opposed motion roll, the special motion roll and the Commercial Trial roll, are unreasonably long. In some instances, trial dates for civil trials are allocated as far as 3½ years away (namely in November 2027). This long delay is attributable to the fact that the volume of cases set down cannot be heard sooner by the number of available Judges or Acting Judges. The DJP continues to have discussions with the leadership of the legal profession regarding steps that can be taken to address the problem.
Currently, the lead times to set matters down are as follows:
- For opposed Road Accident Fund matters, if one applied now for a hearing date, one is likely to end up with a date in 2028;
- For opposed matters involving the Minister of Police, if one applied now for a hearing date, a date is likely to be allocated after 9 March 2027;
- For opposed divorce matters, if one applied now for a hearing date, one is likely to be allocated after 11 November 2024;
- For matters designated as a Commercial Court matter, one is likely to end up with a hearing date after 21 July 2025;
- For any trial matter that requires more than five days, one is likely to end up with a date after 13 April 2026;
- For special Tax Court matters, one is likely to get a date in the term that follows the term in which the application for a hearing date is made;
- For opposed motion roll matters that were loaded onto CaseLines, one is likely to get a date after 11 November 2024;
- For opposed motion roll matters that were loaded onto Court Online, one is likely to end up with a hearing date after 20 January 2025;
- For any application that requires a day or more to be heard (namely, matters designated for the special motions roll), one is likely to get a date after 8 May 2025;
- For unopposed matters that are loaded onto Court Online or CaseLines, one is likely to get a date after 17 July 2024. For those matters that are not loaded on Court Online or CaseLines, one is likely to get a date on the unopposed roll after 8 August 2024;
- For the special interlocutory roll, one is likely to get a date after 25 June 2024;
- For settlements to be made an order of court, one is likely to get a date after 25 July 2024;
- For full-court civil appeals, one is likely to wait between one and two terms for a date to be allocated;
- For Magistrates' Court civil appeals, one is likely to wait about one term for the allocation of a date;
- For full-court criminal appeals, one is likely to wait five to six months for the allocation of a date;
- For Magistrates' Court criminal appeals, one is likely to wait four months for the allocation of a date.
In the bulletin, the DJP of the Johannesburg High Court recognised that the court's function is to render an effective litigation service, but the service is being severely compromised by the lack of judicial capacity to meet the demands of the litigating public. This is despite the utilisation of additional pro bono Acting Judges of between 8 to 10 per week. The court is still not able to deploy enough Judges to hear the cases at a rate that can reduce the civil trial lead times.
The Johannesburg High Court estimates that it would require 20 Judges hearing civil trials each week (whereas currently there are only between 2 and 6 Judges available per week to hear civil trials) in order to reduce the civil trial lead times.
Legal practitioners have a duty to assist the court in its efforts to reduce these lead times.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.