A total of 54 complaints were levelled against the country's serving judges in the last financial year.
This excludes unresolved complaints dating back more than a decade because of legal disputes over how they should be handled.
Briefing the media ahead of his tabling of Office of the Justice budget yesterday, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha said the Judicial Service Commission has had to deal with a number of complaints against judges that took time to complete.
“This requires that we engage with the Chief Justice and the judiciary to look at the effectiveness of the current complaints-handling mechanism,” Masutha said.
Secretary-general in the Office of the Chief Justice Memme Sejosengwe said 54 complaints were received between April 2016 and March 2017. She said 37 were finalised and 17 were outstanding.
Masutha said the complaints ranged from delayed judgments to alleged racist remarks.
Early this month, Judge Mabel Jansen resigned with immediate effect while facing a disciplinary process over comments she made about rape and race.
According to Masutha, there were also unresolved complaints that dated back over a decade because of legal disputes over how they should be handled.
“Unfortunately, due process dictates that where people have cause to challenge institutional arrangements for which they are being held accountable and similar legal disputes, they need to be resolved.
“They have to be resolved first before the Judicial Service Commission finalises them,” he said.
While he did not give examples, one relates to Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe, who was accused of influencing Constitutional Court judges.