SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON INDEPENDENCE OF JUDGES AND LAWYERS TO VISIT SOUTH AFRICA
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Dato' Param Cumaraswamy, will visit South Africa from 22 to 26 November to look into concerns over the independence of magistrates in the country's lower courts.
During the one-week mission, Mr. Cumaraswamy will visit Cape Town, Pretoria, Bloemfontein and Johannesburg. He will meet a cross-section of figures in the administration of justice, including the Chief Justice, the President and Judges of the Constitutional Court, the Minister of Justice, the Magistrates Commission, Members of the Magistrates Association and the Bar Association.
According to the Special Rapporteur, although the independence of the judiciary is entrenched in the 1996 Constitution and is respected by the Government, there have been some concerns expressed over the independence of lower-court magistrates.
A report of the mission is expected to be presented to the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on Human Rights in April 2000.
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