In an article in The Weekender, legal commentator Carmel Rickard takes issue with the 15 ‘concerned judges’ whose memorandum to the Chief Justice complained that black judges were being chastised both in the Judicial Service Commission and the media for their poor decisions.

She writes: ‘They don’t like the fact that The Weekender carried two articles dealing with poor decisions by provincial judges… These were reports on decisions overturned after consideration by the Appeal Court. But they were not merely reversed, as can happen to any judge; these were seriously bad, and the appeal judges said so.’ Rickard adds: ‘It seems to me that the people who complain about public scrutiny and discussion are in the wrong job. By its very nature, the work of a judge is public. That is how their accountability is exercised. Everything they say in court is ‘in public’: the public is entitled to hear and comment on what is said. Judges write their decisions and these are made public precisely so that they can be held accountable. Otherwise they would be exercising vast powers with no meaningful control.’
Full article in The Weekender