SU 3.3

Question 1

Access to justice, narrow definition:

Answer 1

-access to legal services and other state services,
-access to courts or tribunals that adjudicate or mediate.

Question 2

Broader definition:

Answer 2

The concept of access to justice must go beyond the functioning of institutions that resolve disputes and legal processes, and should be defined within the context of the social and economic conditions of prospective users of the judicial system.

Question 3

Administration of Justice challenges prior 1994:

Answer 3

1. Parliamentary sovereignty
2. Homeland policy of the apartheid government
3. A fragmented and untransformed judiciary
4. Racial oppression in magistrates’ courts
5. The role of magistrates as public servants and no independent judicial officers.

Question 4

Brickhill & Friedman challenges pre-1994

Answer 4

1. It prevented the judiciary from interfering in decisions made by the executive
2. It made laws that were racially charged
3. State interference with judicial authority
4. Separated black persons from the judicial system of white persons.
5. This Act established a Chiefs and Headmans Courts, Commissioners courts, and Black appeals courts.

Question 5

The right to equal justice in courts of law in various documents dated between 1924 and 1991

Answer 5

1. 1924 Bill of Rights
2. 1942 Africans Claims
3. The women’s charter of 1954
4. The Freedom Charters of 1955
5. Constitutional guidelines of 1986
6. The Harare declaration of 1989
7. Constitutional Principles of 1991

Question 6

Access to justice post 1994 challenges
Section 34 of the Constitution

Answer 6

1. Poverty
2. Long distances
3. Physical inability
4. Lack of knowledge of Rights
5. Delays