The Superior Courts Act, 2013 (Act No. 10 of 2013) is an act of the

Parliament of South Africa The Parliament of the Republic of South Africa is South Africa's legislature; under the present Constitution of South Africa, the bicameral Parliament comprises a National Assembly and a National Council of Provinces. The current twenty-seve ...

that restructured the

court system A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance w ...

. It reorganised the various High Courts into a single

High Court of South Africa The High Court of South Africa is a superior court of law in South Africa. It is divided into nine provincial divisions, some of which sit in more than one location. Each High Court division has general jurisdiction over a defined geographical ...

, with a division situated in each

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

, including two new divisions to serve

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

and

Mpumalanga Mpumalanga () is a province of South Africa. The name means "East", or literally "The Place Where the Sun Rises" in the Swazi, Xhosa, Ndebele and Zulu languages. Mpumalanga lies in eastern South Africa, bordering Eswatini and Mozambique. It ...

. It rationalised and consolidated the laws governing the superior courts (the

Constitutional Court A constitutional court is a high court that deals primarily with constitutional law. Its main authority is to rule on whether laws that are challenged are in fact unconstitutional, i.e. whether they conflict with constitutionally established ...

, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the High Court), and altered the administration and financial management of the courts. The act was signed into law on 12 August 2013, and came into force on 23 August. It is associated with the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act of 2012, which makes corresponding necessary changes to the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

History

Transitional provisions in the 1996 Constitution require that the court system be rationalised to suit the new constitution "as soon as practical". The Superior Courts Bill was first introduced in 2003, but it was opposed by members of the judiciary and the legal profession, as well as by opposition politicians, because they claimed that it weakened the

independence of the judiciary Judicial independence is the concept that the judiciary should be independent from the other branches of government. That is, courts should not be subject to improper influence from the other branches of government or from private or partisan inte ...

by putting the administration of the courts under the control of the

Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...

. The bill was ultimately allowed to lapse in 2009. In the meantime, the "Interim Rationalisation of Jurisdiction of High Courts Act" and the "Renaming of High Courts Act" were passed to allow the High Courts to be renamed and their areas of jurisdiction to be altered. The Superior Courts Bill was reintroduced in 2010, but this new version made the Chief Justice, rather than the Minister of Justice, responsible for the administration of the courts, allaying the fears about judicial independence. The new version of the bill was supported by the official opposition Democratic Alliance. The bill did encounter substantial opposition from interested parties in

Grahamstown Makhanda, also known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 140,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Port Elizabeth and southwest of East London, Eastern Cape, East London. Makhanda is the lar ...

, because it originally proposed that the main seat of the Eastern Cape Division should be moved to

Bhisho Bhisho (formerly Bisho) is the capital of the Eastern Cape province in South Africa. The Office of the Premier, Provincial Legislature and many other government departments are headquartered in the town. The town, three kilometres from Qonce and ...

; this change was ultimately reversed and the main seat will remain at Grahamstown. The bill was passed by the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

on 22 November 2012 and by the

National Council of Provinces The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) is the upper house of the Parliament of South Africa under the (post-apartheid) constitution which came into full effect in 1997. It replaced the former Senate, but is very similar to that body, and to ma ...

on 14 May 2013. It was signed into law by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

on 12 August 2013, and brought into force by presidential proclamation on 23 August.

Provisions

The act restructured the High Courts into Divisions of a single High Court as described in the following table. In each division, if there was more than one existing court, one became the main seat with jurisdiction over the whole province, and the others became local seats with jurisdiction over a restricted area. The Gauteng Division at Pretoria was to also serve as the Limpopo and Mpumalanga Divisions until the new courts are opened at Polokwane and Mbombela (Nelspruit). The Limpopo Division at Polokwane was opened on 25 January 2016, and the Mpumalanga Division at Mbombela was established on 13 May 2019.

References

External links

Official text of the act
{{Superior Courts of South Africa South African legislation Courts of South Africa 2013 in South African law