The high court in Johannesburg was forced to close on Thursday morning as water outages continue to disrupt much of the city.
Large parts of Johannesburg have been battling with water shortages for the past few weeks. Chief justice Mandisa Maya’s office issued a notice that the court would close at 11am due to a lack of water.
“Affected parties will be contacted regarding alternative arrangements for all matters scheduled on the court role for the day,” the notice states.
It is uncertain whether the court will open on Friday but Johannesburg Water spokesperson Puleng Mopeli said the system was stabilising.
The court, already grappling with a huge backlog of civil cases, must now deal with the administrative nightmare of sorting out the court roll and assigning different dates for people, some who travelled from far to attend court on Thursday.
The high court was plagued by backlogs last year with some of the civil cases allocated late hearing dates.
Mopeli said the water outage affecting the court was the result of maintenance at the Hector Norris pump station. “The issue began after our planned maintenance to change the valves at the pump station, which initially went as expected. However, shortly afterwards, we experienced unforeseen power outages,” Mopeli said. “Given the rainfall on Thursday, we anticipate further recovery as the system continues to stabilise.”
Maintenance at the pump station started last week and Johannesburg Water shut several reservoirs supplying water to various suburbs. The outages also affected businesses in the city and suburbs including Randburg, Sandton, Parktown, Westbury and Marlboro.
Legal organisations have expressed concern that the lack of water has led to delays in the court’s constitutional duty to deliver justice.
Black Lawyers Association president Nkosana Mvundlela said lawyers were concerned about justice delayed for their clients as some waited a long time for court hearings.
“In some of the matters on the court roll, their applications were made two to three years ago. Once people obtained those dates, they were hoping that they were going to get justice because that high court is experiencing backlogs,” he said.
“Currently the high courts in Johannesburg and Pretoria are allocating dates of 2032 and that tells you of the nature of the backlogs we are sitting with.”
Mvundlela said poor service delivery in Johannesburg was a blow to those seeking justice.
“We are extremely concerned that members of the public are not getting justice. It also means the lawyers who are litigating in that court are not working,” he said. “The judiciary is unable to do its work for the benefit of the public. The municipality is frustrating the work of the judiciary.”
Law Society of SA spokesperson Mapula Oliphant echoed that view. “The disruptions put pressure on the state of affairs of the court in respect of the backlogs and the running of civil matters. However we are confident that our courts have put measures in place to address the effects of these disruptions and smooth running of the matters.”
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