Johannesburg - In a court in which only six of the 23 judges are women, a list of shortlisted candidates released on Wednesday has again revealed that equal gender representation in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) is still wishful thinking.
Only one of the seven shortlisted candidates to be interviewed for the two SCA positions is a woman - a “concern” that Judicial Service Commission (JSC) spokesman advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC said required the government to “take a radical position”.
“It’s a matter for concern, but what can I do? We are quite clear that we need transformation of the Bench… on the basis of race and gender, but as you know, it’s like playing an old record,” he said.
“My position here has been that unless you take a radical position, there is some responsibility on the government to ensure that laws enacted in Parliament are implemented on employment equity.”
He said the government had to monitor the progress of women who entered the profession and the kind of work they did as it impacted greatly on their ability to avail themselves for positions later in life.
“I don’t speak for women, but in my view, some females feel they haven’t been exposed to a wider array of law that would make them confident to sit on the Bench.
“All the government needs to do is say, this year, 2015, how many females have become advocates? How many have become attorneys? And then they say ‘okay, now there’s work that needs to be distributed’.
“Instead of giving all the work to Ntsebeza alone, work must be given to these females, and then we’ll build.
“But as a first step, the president should take the first step to say we’ll have a deliberate procurement of services (process) and, in the long term, it will grow a pool, not just any pool, but a pool of women who would have been exposed to a wide range of issues. They must have a deliberate policy that says the private sector should have a preferential employment equity,” he said.
Judge Nambitha Dambuza, who is with the Competition Appeal Court, is contesting the two SCA positions with Judge Nathan Erasmus, Judge Trevor Gorven, Judge Rami Mathopo, Judge P Meyer, Judge Dimpheletse Seun Moshidi and Judge Deon van Zyl.
The South African Women Lawyers Association could not be reached for comment last night.
Another vacancy of interest was that of judge president of the Limpopo division of the High Court. All seven shortlisted candidates are judges in the Gauteng Division - two in Joburg and five in Pretoria. But again, only one of them is a woman - Judge Thokozile Masipa, who presided over the Oscar Pistorius trial.
Other shortlisted female candidates are Yasmin Shenaz Meer, an acting judge in the Western Cape High Court, and advocate Nomawabo Msizi from the Eastern Cape.
Meer is contesting the position of judge president of the Land Claims Court against Judge Elias Matojane, while Msizi is one of the six shortlisted candidates for two positions in the Eastern Cape Division of the High Court.
The Star