ISS Seminar, Pretoria Office: Transforming the Judiciary

Date: 2010-07-29

Venue: ISS Conference Room, Block C, Brooklyn Court, 361 Veale Street, New Muckleneuk, Parking in Brooklyn Mall and ABSA court)

RSVP: Millicent Mlaba
Tel: (012) 346 9500
Fax: (012) 460 0997/ 086 508 1660
E-mail: [email protected]

The need for the composition of the South African judiciary to reflect the demographics of South Africa in terms of race and gender has been a topic of lively and even acrimonious debate in South Africa over the past few years. There are those who hold the view that the discussion about transformation of the judiciary masks an intention to undermine judicial independence. Others argue that those who seek to avoid racial and gender transformation are merely protecting their own interests.

In the latest edition of South African Crime Quarterly Professor Steven Friedman contributes an article in which he argues that the key test of judicial transformation is not whether it meets some abstract standard but whether judges and courts enjoy widespread legitimacy in society. He suggests that this approach can partly explain why we need a more racially and gender representative judiciary if our justice system is to operate effectively. He also argues that racial and gender change alone will not secure the public trust in the courts and that a broader reform agenda is needed which understands the intrinsic link between an improved judicial system and winning broad public support for a more representative judiciary

Join us on 29 July for a debate and discussion of these issues and to launch the next edition of the journal SA Crime Quarterly No 32.

SPEAKERS:

• Professor Steven Friedman: “Winning public trust: Towards a Wider Agenda for Judicial Transformation”

• Advocate Kevin Malunga (BA Law UNISA), LLB(Natal), LLM(Georgetown,D.C),PhD Candidate(Wisconsin-Madison): Respondent

This seminar is made possible by funding from the Hanns Seidel Foundation.