Qualifications of the judges
Michael Corbett, Chief Justice of the Appellate Division at the time, had opposed this decision around appointing judges from a category of ‘non-legal’ experts. He believed that the judges of the Constitutional Court should be appointed from the members of the existing judiciary so that they had the necessary experience to meet the challenge. The Department of Justice also opposed the special provision, believing that they would not be able to meet the highly complex nature of
the challenge.
Barney Desai, representative of the Pan Africanist Congress. UN Photo/
Yutaka Nagata
Barney Desai, speaking for the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) and other organisations, argued that the ten-year period of post-qualification practice as a lawyer would mean that most black advocates would be excluded because they had been historically disadvantaged. He requested that this be reduced to five years.
We have to get to the beginnings of a new bench that represents the people of this country as far as possible.
Barney Desai
Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), 1993
Ultimately the negotiators agreed that the 10 year post qualification would not be retained and that ‘non legal’ constitutional experts, for example academics could be appointed to the Constitutional Court. And in fact some members of the Court’s first bench, Justices O’Regan, Mokgoro and Sachs, were academics.
Justice Kate O’Regan. Corruption Watch
