Speeches

Opening Statement by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at a briefing on the South African Judicial Education Institute Amendment Bill [B26–2025] to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on 4 August 2026

Chairperson,
Honourable Members,
Good morning.

I am jointed by Adv Marelize Potgieter, Acting Secretary General of the Office of the Chief Justice; Dr Slindokuhle Shamase, CEO of the SAJEI; Adv Tseliso Thipanyane, Chief Director in the Office of the SG; Adv Nelson Phakola, Principal State Law Advisor; Adv Steven Ralekwa, Acting Deputy Director-General: Legislative Development, and Adv Tsietsi Sebelemetja, Chief Director: Legislative Development.

Allow me at the outset to thank the Committee for the opportunity to present the South African Judicial Education Institute Amendment Bill.
Officials from the Department will shortly take the Committee through the detailed provisions of the Bill.

I therefore intend to confine my remarks to its broader policy significance and its place within the long-term constitutional evolution of our justice system.
This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution under the theme "One Constitution. One Nation: Reflect, Renew, Recommit."
We are reminded that the Constitution established not merely a new legal order, but a new vision of the state founded on the separation of powers, judicial independence, accountability and the rule of law.

Building the institutions required by that constitutional vision has been a gradual process.
It has unfolded over three decades through successive reforms aimed at strengthening the independence, effectiveness and legitimacy of the judiciary.
The establishment of the Office of the Chief Justice as a national department, the designation of the Chief Justice as the Head of the Judiciary, the enactment of the Superior Courts Act, the creation of the South African Judicial Education Institute and the progressive transfer of judicial functions from the Executive to the Judiciary have all formed part of that constitutional journey.
This Bill represents another important step along that path.

Its immediate purpose is modest. It restructures the governance arrangements of the South African Judicial Education Institute by distinguishing more clearly between its academic leadership and its administrative management.

It creates the position of a Dean who must be a judge and who will serve as the academic head of the Institute, while clarifying the role of the Executive Director as the administrative head.

At one level, these are governance amendments. At another, they reflect an important constitutional principle.
Judicial education is not simply another public-sector training function. It is integral to the independence, quality and integrity of the judiciary itself.
The education of judges, the development of judicial ethics, the strengthening of judicial leadership and the cultivation of judicial excellence are matters that should increasingly be shaped by the Judiciary itself.

For that reason, the Bill provides that the academic leadership of the Institute should rest with a serving or retired judge.
It strengthens judicial ownership of judicial education while retaining sound administrative governance and public accountability through the Executive Director and the Council.

Chairperson,
Government has consistently expressed its commitment to the long-term objective of a single judiciary operating within a judiciary-led court administration system, consistent with the constitutional vision first reflected in Schedule 6 of the Constitution.
This commitment has been reaffirmed by President Ramaphosa, by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, and through our ongoing engagements with the Chief Justice and Heads of Court.

The movement towards a judiciary-led court administration model is not an event; it is a process.
It requires careful institutional development. It requires appropriate governance arrangements.
It requires capable institutions. And it requires the Judiciary to assume increasing responsibility for those matters that are closely connected with the exercise of judicial functions, while preserving proper constitutional accountability for the use of public resources.

Judicial education is one such function. The Bill therefore supports - not by dramatic constitutional change, but through careful institutional reform - the continued maturation of South Africa's constitutional democracy.
It strengthens the institutional capacity of the Judiciary to educate its own members, to develop future judicial leaders, to respond to new areas of law and technology, and to ensure that judicial officers continue to uphold the highest standards of constitutional jurisprudence.

Chairperson,
I wish to emphasise that these amendments did not originate within the Executive.
They emanate from the Council of the South African Judicial Education Institute itself, following recommendations of a subcommittee chaired by the Deputy Chief Justice.

The Bill therefore reflects a collaborative process between the Judiciary and the Executive, undertaken in the shared interest of strengthening one of our key constitutional institutions.

Finally, Chairperson, this Bill reminds us that safeguarding judicial independence involves more than protecting courts from improper interference.
It also requires investing in judicial excellence, strengthening judicial institutions, promoting continuing judicial education and ensuring that the Judiciary possesses the institutional capacity necessary to fulfil its constitutional mandate.

This Bill contributes to those objectives.

It is measured in its scope, practical in its effect and significant in its constitutional implications.

I therefore commend the Bill to the Committee and look forward to Members' engagement.

I thank you.