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‘Courts must embrace 4IR’, says Judge President Musi

29 May 2019 | Story Rulanzen Martin | Photo Rulanzen Martin

Judge Musi — Judge President Cagney Musi from the Free State Division of the High Court.

If you live in a rural town the chances of getting equal access to the court system as your urban counterparts is very slim and therefore the trust in the judiciary has taken a nosedive. This is the “urban bias” of the judiciary, according to Judge President Cagney Musi of the Free State Division of the High Court.

Afrobarometer conducted a countrywide survey on, Trust in Judiciary and access to justice in South Africa. Judge Musi, Matthias Krönke from the Department of Political Studies at the University of Cape Town and Chris Oxtoby from Democratic Governance and Rights Unit at UCT, engaged in a panel discussion on the findings of the report.

The data of the survey was released at an event which was hosted by the Department of Political Transformation and Governance at the University of the Free State (UFS) on Tuesday 16 May 2019.

“The fact that we in South Africa and can say ‘I will take you to court’ is evidence of the trust there is in the judiciary,” said Judge President Musi. However, this trust in the courts ultimately lies in the operations of the court system. Cases that get postponed just becomes part of the backlog. The trust can be maintained through constant communication from the courts. Judge Musi asked whether social media could be used to maintain the trust in the judiciary by sharing court rulings on social media.

“It is also time the courts moved along with the changing times.” Judge Musi was referencing the Fourth Industrial Revolution and how courts can move away from conventional paper-based systems to a process whereby a claimant can submit summonses online.

The data findings of the Afrobarometer survey focused on three broad themes namely; trust in the judiciary and access to justice and judicial autonomy. It aims to contextualise South Africa on the continent and see to what extent people trust the judiciary in South Africa and how that compares to other parts of Africa. South Africa’s performance is very average compared to other countries.

News Archive

Winning culture helps Kovsies Tennis team claim ninth gold

2015-12-09

Ruben Kruger of the University of the Free State in action at the 2015 USSA tournament in Cape Town.
Photo: Janine de Kock

A winning culture in the Kovsies Tennis Team, combined with good planning, contributed to the University of the Free State (UFS) USSA success recipe.

This is what Janine Erasmus, one of the team's captains, had to say.

According to her, this is why the UFS were able to handle the pressure of being the favourite so well, and this is what helped her team to achieve a ninth consecutive gold medal in Cape Town on 4 December 2015.

This was the sixth year in a row that the UFS triumphed in the combined USSA format since its inception in 2010. In 2007 and 2008, its Women's team won gold, and in 2009, it was the Men's team.

Erasmus was full of praise for the Kovsie coach, Marnus Kleinhans, and Janine de Kock, manager of KovsieTennis.

“We had a build-up of a few months to the USSA tournament, and they (Kleinhans and De Kock) already knew exactly what to do,” she said.

Erasmus, who won a third gold medal, believes her team had great depth this year.

Four in select squad

Kovsies and Maties played in the USSA Tennis Finals for a fourth consecutive year.

Erasmus and her team beat the Stellenbosch team 7 - 3 on 4 December 2015, after they defeated Tukkies 8 - 0 in their semi-final.

Mareli Bojé is one of four tennis players of the University of the Free State included in a 2015 USSA tournament team.
Photo: Janine de Kock

Arné Nel, Cornelius Rall, Duke Munro, and Mareli Bojé are the four Kovsies included in the USSA tournament team.

Nel, the other captain from the UFS, won all his matches for the third successive year. Munro won a gold medal at USSA for the seventh year in a row.

Gold for Table Tennis

Three UFS sports teams made it to the USSA finals, all against Maties. The tennis and men's table tennis teams were both winners, but the Sevens rugby team got stuck.

The Kovsie table tennis team beat Maties 3 - 1 in Kimberley.

Silver for Sevens rugby

The Kovsie Sevens rugby team, third at USSA for the past two years, walked away with silver in George on 1 December 2015.

The team was defeated by Maties 10 - 31 in the final. This was after they won 24 - 14 against Pukke in the semi-final, and 28 - 12 against the Central University of Technology in the quarter final.

Tukkies, the 2014 USSA Sevens champions, together with several other teams, did not take part because the tournament was postponed because of the nationwide student protests.

The Kovsie swimming team took part in the USSA tournament in Johannesburg from 28 November to 30 November 2015.

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