Mandela Institute at Wits School of Law makes history

September 26th, 2016
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From left to right: Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution mediator, Felicity Steadman; Chairperson, Minister’s Advisery Committee on Court-Annexed Mediation, Judge Cassim Sardiwalla; Judge at the Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court of Uganda, Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire; Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court of Namibia, Justice Petrus Tileinge Damaseb; Wits School of Law and conference convenor, Dr Mohamed Alli Chicktay; Patelia Attorneys, Ebrahim Patelia (behind), and Aina Blankson, LP, Nigeria Kehinde Aina.

From left to right: Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution mediator, Felicity Steadman; Chairperson, Minister’s Advisory Committee on Court-Annexed Mediation, Judge Cassim Sardiwalla; Judge at the Court of Appeal and Constitutional Court of Uganda, Justice Geoffrey Kiryabwire; Deputy Chief Justice and Judge President of the High Court of Namibia, Justice Petrus Tileinge Damaseb; Wits School of Law and conference convenor, Dr Mohamed Alli Chicktay; Patelia Attorneys, Ebrahim Patelia (behind), and Aina Blankson, LP, Nigeria Kehinde Aina.

In the week of Nelson Mandela’s birthday the Mandela Institute at Wits School of Law hosted the first international conference in South Africa (SA) on court-annexed mediation entitled ‘Court-annexed mediation: Successes, challenges and possibilities’. South Africa has recently adopted a pilot project on court-annexed mediation in a number of magistrates’ courts. The purpose of the conference was to analyse the mediation rules pertaining to the project, its successes, failures and possibilities.

Speakers at the conference included the Deputy Chief Justice of Namibia, judges from SA and Uganda, heads of law societies, state attorneys, advocates, academics and pioneers in mediation from Nigeria, England and Australia.

The conference organisers welcomed the rules as a move in a positive direction by the executive, but concluded that major changes were needed in order for the rules to be more effective. The changes suggested include:

  • Extending mediation to all courts, including the High Court.
  • That court-annexed mediation be made compulsory and be given free to indigent communities who cannot afford the current tariff.
  • That more resources be put into mediation by the executive. This includes better infrastructure and training of permanent mediation support staff.
  • It was also recommended that the SA judiciary work together with the executive in developing court-annexed mediation in SA.

The SA court system denies access to justice to millions of South Africans who cannot afford litigation and it is time consuming. Delaying access to courts would in effect deny access to justice. Not only does mediation save time and money it also enables parties to determine the outcome of their own disputes. In essence it gives parties self-ownership of the outcome of their disputes and ultimately dignity. It is essential that the rules be amended to give effect to the constitutional values and the protection of the fundamental rights of all South Africans.

Dr Mohamed Alli Chicktay, Wits School of Law

 This article was first published in De Rebus in 2016 (Oct) DR 12.

 

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