20 November 2025
The criminal justice system needs a total revamp, says the author. Graphic: Lisa Nelson
Criminal courts in Cape Town are near to collapse.
That, in a nutshell, is my experience as an attorney who has worked in these courts for the past 30 years.
Workloads for court officials are unbearable. There are too few courts. Court buildings are old and inadequate. Security for witnesses, lawyers and the public is poor. Cases come to court which should not. There is general chaos.
There are too many cases daily in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court, from murder, dealing in drugs, armed robbery, sexual assault, and a range of minor offences. The same situation applies across the board.
Courts just cannot cope with the cases that are brought before them every day, particularly on Mondays.
At the Cape Town and Wynberg Magistrate’s Courts there is only one court that deals with bail applications, and there are just far too many applications to be dealt with.
There should be at least two courts dealing with these applications, particularly where there are serious offences involved and where such applications are opposed. Generally, opposed bail applications take much longer, and these cases sometimes take months to finalise, though by nature they are urgent and should be dealt with speedily.
In other courts as well, trial matters are delayed for lengthy periods, sometimes even for years, because courts in Cape Town, and throughout South Africa, cannot cope with the high rate of cases presented to them.
The solution is short, but perhaps not that simple. We need to create more courts, and employ more magistrates, but it is vital to employ magistrates who have the necessary skills and training to deal with cases efficiently.
Many cases have to be postponed, and many accused are being kept in custody — sometimes for years — because courts simply cannot cope with the caseloads involved.
The key challenges relate to the high rates of crime in this country. Also, too many petty cases are brought to court which should rather be diverted from the criminal justice system in favour of alternative dispute resolution, mediation and the like. I believe the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) should look at more efficient ways to resolve matters without necessarily prosecuting each and every case.
The duty of prosecutors is to look objectively at cases to determine whether there are merits in continuing. Some do apply their minds to determine if there is a reasonable prospect of a successful prosecution, but others just continue with cases merely at the behest of a complainant.
There are very competent magistrates and prosecutors in Cape Town, but there are also some who are just prosecuting for the sake of it, and there are certainly magistrates who need to be better trained in order to be able to deal with matters more efficiently.
More magistrates and prosecutors are urgently needed in Cape Town. These could also be drawn from the private sector. Private attorneys can also assist in prosecuting cases and, in some serious cases, they should be appointed by the NPA.
This does not usually happen in South Africa, but I believe it’s something that needs to be looked at. For example, many cases emanating from the Zondo Commission Report have been left “unprosecuted”, and more private attorneys, private forensic experts and private investigators should be brought in to deal with these cases.
The recent Wild West-type shooting incidents at Wynberg Magistrate’s Court, as well as at other courts across the Western Cape and in other parts of South Africa, bring the security issue into sharp relief.
The Witness Protection Programme is not properly run. Sometimes, witnesses sit in the same corridor as accused persons. Recent incidents at Wynberg, where a witness was stabbed on the stairs leading into the building, and another in which someone was shot on the fourth floor in the regional court section, have brought this matter into the public realm.
There should be protection for witnesses, wherever they come from, to and from the court, and in the court itself.
Appearing as a witness in my own attempted assassination case was quite traumatic. The people who are believed to have shot at you are watching you all the time, and their friends could be outside the court.
At most courts, the security machines which examine items being brought into the building are just not working. Searches of people are ineffective. Security guards are untrained and ineffective in a crisis.
There have been several instances in recent times when courts have had to be evacuated due to bomb threats. How do you get bombs into courts?
Brawls in court corridors, often between rival gang members, are commonplace.
In the shooting incidents at Wynberg, people were running down corridors. There were children at the children’s court, which is one floor below where the incident took place. Magistrates, prosecutors and lawyers were extremely traumatised.
All lawyers, prosecutors, magistrates and judges have to be vigilant, because they may be dealing with very, very unpopular cases involving accused who may be very dangerous. Yet there is no secure parking for lawyers, in particular. In some instances, lawyers have to walk significant distances to court, after parking their vehicles in parking lots.
Often, there are not even consultation rooms at courts. It is difficult to consult in the court corridors as you are then exposed to witnesses, who may not like you because you are defending an unpopular client.
Some courts are in disrepair and have not been upgraded for many, many years. Some courts, like Hermanus, are in a shocking state. Malmesbury Regional Court burnt down four years ago, and hasn’t been repaired.
The authorities have done very little about any of this, though I have complained on many occasions. The Department of Justice and those responsible for security don’t even meet with lawyers, or with organisations acting on behalf of lawyers, to discuss their views.
As for the role of the police in the court system, there are too many cases for the police to handle. There is a lack of training. Many police detectives have left and retired from the service and this causes another problem in the proper and efficient investigation of cases.
There are delays at the various state laboratories where blood samples and DNA are tested. There are also holdups in various other areas, like ballistics, which in many instances result in cases being struck from the court roll because they are unreasonably delayed and investigations take so long.
As an attorney, I represent people from all walks of life, who are owed equality and fairness under the law. The time has come for urgent action to save our criminal court justice system from irretrievable breakdown.
We need a complete revamp of the system.
A concerted effort should be made under the auspices of the Minister of Justice, where all involved can give their views on how to improve the decaying system, through the Law Society and the Legal Practice Council.
The time for urgent intervention is now. We need to save our precious court system, and to protect the noble concept of justice for all.
Views expressed are not necessarily those of GroundUp.