The Superior Courts Act, 2013 (Act No. 10 of 2013) is an
act of the
Parliament of South Africa 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 accordanc ...
. 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 state. The term derives from the ancient Roman '' provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
, 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. 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 entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed.
When these princ ...
.
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 inter ...
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 ...
.
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. Makhanda is the largest town in the Makana ...
, because it originally proposed that the main seat of the Eastern Cape Division should be moved to
Bhisho; 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 rep ...
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 ...
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 ...
Jacob Zuma 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