Over 300 judgments outstanding for more than six months

More than 300 court judgments have been reported as officially late – the highest number since GroundUp started to report on the issue. Illustration: Bronwyn Webb

More than 300 court judgments are officially late – the highest number since GroundUp started to report on the issue when it was 87 in December 2018 and 103 in September 2019.

The latest report reflects the situation at the start of the third term – 15 August 2025 for the Constitutional Court, the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Labour Appeal Court. And the start of the third term for the High Court, Labour Courts and Land Court - 21 July.

Judgment was reserved in 1,657 matters, of which 302 matters were outstanding for more than six months, classified as late by the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ). This is up from 279 in term 2.

The Judicial Norms and Standards actually requires that every effort be made to hand down judgment within three months and that judgments generally not be reserved without a delivery date.

According to the latest list, the Gauteng Division of the Pretoria High Court had the highest number of late judgments, with 55 outstanding for longer than six months.

This was followed by the Johannesburg Labour Court with 51 late judgments and the Durban Labour Court with 31. The North West Division in Mahikeng and the KwaZulu-Natal Division in Pietermaritzburg followed with 24 and 22 respectively.

Some courts have no late judgments. These include the Electoral Court, Labour Appeal Court, Competition Appeal Court, and the Mpumalanga Local Division in Middelburg.

The country’s apex court is not setting the best example. According to the latest list, the Constitutional Court had the highest proportion of late judgments. Thirteen of 21 matters before the court were outstanding, one of which had been outstanding for more than a year.

Retired KwaZulu-Natal Judge Anton van Zyl had the longest outstanding judgment – more than four years late before a ruling was handed down in November 2025.

Acting Judge Sandile Kuboni has three late judgments. All have been outstanding since June and July 2021, making them the next longest outstanding matters.

Acting Judge MP Kumalo of the Johannesburg Labour Court had the highest number of late judgments, with 26 matters outstanding. This was followed by Judge Andrew Reddy of the North West Division in Mahikeng, with nine, and Acting Judge Mpontshana of the KwaZulu-Natal Division in Pietermaritzburg, with eight.

The OCJ’s latest report is itself late. It was only made public on 27 March 2026, almost six months after the end of the third court term (September 2025). Reports used to be published regularly at the end of each term.

The OCJ said it “endeavours to issue the Reserved Judgment Reports as soon as they are made available for publishing”. The information is “gathered manually” and undergoes “an extensive review process by the Judiciary before it may be published”.

The OCJ said the judiciary “accounts to the South African public through the Annual Judiciary Report”, released on Judiciary Day, which includes “statistics and analysis” on reserved judgments.

Support independent journalism
Donate using Payfast