Judiciary: High Court switch would devastate Makhanda

More than 5 000 jobs would be shed in Makhanda, unemployment would skyrocket, and the already vulnerable local economy would be devastated if the seat of the Eastern Cape High Court was moved to Bhisho, according to an economic impact report. The report was compiled in response to a recommendation by a commission, headed by former Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke, proposing that the provincial court seat be moved to Bhisho and the Makhanda High Court’s territorial jurisdiction be reduced by at least two-thirds. The commission has been tasked with the ‘rationalization’ of High Court jurisdictions across the country, notes a Daily Dispatch report. Its proposal for the Eastern Cape High Court seat had the potential to reduce Makhanda to a ‘ghost town’, Rhodes University’s vice-chancellor Professor Sizwe Mabizela warned at a press conference called by the recently formed Makhanda High Court Action Committee (MHCAC). ‘This move would place Makhanda in serious peril,’ he is quoted as saying. The economic impact report estimates that the move would result in a loss of local earnings of between R230m and R370m from Makhanda’s already fragile local economy. Mabizela said an estimated direct loss of 5 000 jobs would also affect tens of thousands of other family members who relied on these incomes. It would hit the poorest and most disadvantaged the hardest. ‘While affected lawyers and professionals may be inconvenienced, they can simply move to where there is work. Ordinary citizens don’t have that privilege.’

MHCAC said in a statement that it was the fifth time in 30 years that it had been proposed that the seat be moved and Makhanda High Court’s jurisdiction reduced. Every time, it had been the unanimous decision of government and the judiciary to keep Makhanda as the main seat of the Eastern Cape division. The Daily Dispatch says the committee also made the point that Makhanda’s High Court infrastructure was excellent. It would cost upwards of R1bn to replicate this in Bhisho. The report points out that Makhanda’s loss would not result in a gain for Bhisho, which lacked the required infrastructure. It points out that the Bhisho society of advocates has 63 members and not a single one holds chambers in Bhisho. Most instead have chambers in East London.