Traditional Courts Bill under the knife in EC

East London - Masimanyane Women’s Support Centre, in conjunction with the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the University of Cape Town’s Law, Race and Gender Unit, hosted a two-day workshop on the Traditional Courts Bill at the Esplanade Hotel last week.
Amongst the attendees were community leaders from various rural areas in the Eastern Cape who wanted to learn more about the Bill.

According to Nomfundo Gobodo of the LRC, the aim of the gathering was to make attendees understand the Bill and encourage them to educate their communities about it.
“Before it becomes law we must make sure it is in line with communities’ needs. It is up to them to make a decision about what they want in the Bill.”

However, Gobodo said the Bill remains pending due to a number of inconsistencies.
“It has defects such as the rule that there should only be one presiding officer,” she said.

Traditional courts are supposed to give families and communities the power to resolve their own disputes but having one presiding officer present does not allow this.
“If you centralise power then you take it away from the families,” said Gobodo.

Though the Bill allows women to represent themselves in court, Gobodo said that this right is removed because of one major contradiction.
“It says that either men or women can be represented in court but only according to customary law. This already throws the idea out because in some cultures women cannot go into kraals.”

There was outcry from the public when the Bill was introduced earlier this year because they felt communities were ignored when it was being drafted.
“The National House of Traditional Leaders was consulted but not the communities,” said Gobodo. “The public did not know about the Bill. They were not given the opportunity to provide input.”

The South African Law Commission, a body specialising in law research, was also neglected.
“Their research was done and they made recommendations but they were disregarded,” said Gobodo.

However, she said the Bill has its advantages.
“Community courts will help in getting rid of backlogs. It is not a bad idea but the way it is drafted will not help anybody.”

Micky Xanywa, Masimanyane’s human resources manager, remains optimistic about the outcome of the Bill.
“Let’s hope the research done will be taken into consideration,” she said.

- Article courtesy of Eastern Cape Today