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Cape Town – Magistrates will soon have to publicly disclose gifts, business interests, royalties and property.
Briefing media ahead of the budget vote for the Office of the Chief Justice, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha said this was in the interests of judicial accountability.
He said one of the mechanisms they had in place to ensure this accountability was the disclosure of judge’s financial interest.
The same would now be extended to magistrates, he said, in en effort to reach the full implementation of a single judiciary.
This was still the subject of discussions though, he said.
Masutha said that, so far, he was pleased with the "overwhelming compliance by judges to this law".
He said the declaration of assets did not apply to retired judges.
Advocate Jacob Skosana hoewever clarified that it would apply to retired judges who were called in back to work.
Transformation of the judiciary lay at the heart of the constitutional discourse, he said.
"Indeed, great strides have already been made in transforming our judiciary to reflect the racial and gender composition of the South African society."
He said they were making progress in the appointment of women judges.
"Of the 242 judges in active service, some 86 are women, and some are in leadership positions."
He said the number of female judges at the Constitutional Court had also been increasing steadily - currently it had three female judges, Masutha said.
There were 156 black judges in the superior courts, out of the 242 judges.
"This clearly indicates that the South African judiciary is on the right path."
Over the three-year medium term, the Office of the Chief Justice has been allocated a total budget of R5.8bn.
