Too Few Female Judges - Radebe

Justice Minister Jeff Radebe acknowledged on Wednesday that racial representivity on the Bench had made huge strides since 1994 but that he remained concerned about gender, pointing out that there was not a single female judge president in the country.

The latest statistics from the department show that, of the 205 judges countrywide of which 112 are black and 93 white, only 42 are women - 16 of those are African, four are coloured, eight are Indian and 14 are white.

This tally is a far cry from the beginning of democratic rule in 1994, when there was only one black male judge and two white female judges, with the rest of the Bench made up of white males.

But white male aspirant candidates for the Bench, will not be overlooked in future appointments, given Monday's postponement of the JSC's public interview for candidates, because of "transformation concerns", said Radebe.

However, he said, there was a constitutional imperative to achieve greater gender representivity.

Interviews for Bench vacancies will now be held on July 19 and will include candidates who have already been identified on the short-list.

JSC members can supplement these with names from the original list of applicants, but the process will not be re-opened, JSC spokesperson Marumo Moerane said earlier this week.

Radebe dismissed accusations that by asking for a postponement of the JSC interviews earlier this week because of transformation concerns, he was trying to interfere with judicial appointments.

"I have no intention in my capacity as the Minister of Justice to interfere with the process. We will work as a collective on the JSC to interview candidates. It is just this context of transformation, particular gender representation that I am concerned about. I even indicated to them that after 15 years into our democracy, we do not have a single judge president that is a woman."