ANALYSIS: SA’s judiciary must fight for hearts and minds to reclaim the moral high ground

High-profile cases, like that of taxi boss Joe Sibanyoni, expose systemic flaws within South Africa’s judiciary, raising critical questions about fairness and public trust.

Concern about whether South Africans trust the country’s legal system has been growing for years.

From at least 2021, more than half of those asked by Afrobarometer have said they trust the judiciary “just a little” or “not at all”.

At the same time, other polling has found that a military government may in fact be more popular than the democratic system we have now.

Recent events have raised serious questions about the integrity of the judiciary. While every case involves unique facts and explanations, the underlying pattern fuels a growing public perception that individuals with wealth and resources can easily evade justice.

Two weeks ago, the taxi mogul Joe Sibanyoni and several others were arrested and charged with extortion.

The initial magistrate was told that Mpumalanga’s chief magistrate, Tuletu Tonjeni, would take over the case. Despite the prosecutor, Mkhuseli Ntaba, warning that he had a scheduling conflict, the next hearing date was set anyway.

When Ntaba subsequently failed to appear, Tonjeni — now presiding — struck the case from the roll, freeing Sibanyoni and his co-accused. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) later re-enrolled the matter and moved it to a larger court facility, where a new magistrate granted bail, allowing the case to finally proceed.

In the meantime, NPA head Andy Mothibi told Newzroom Afrika that Ntaba had not appeared in court because he had been threatened.

The NPA then lodged a complaint against Tonjeni at the Magistrates Commission. She then retired.

There may be an innocent explanation for this. But if a prosecutor was threatened in a case, would it not follow that the magistrate might have been threatened too?

Meanwhile, as journalist Anna Cox reported, the Alexandra Magistrates’ Court struck a fraud case against Johannesburg Development Agency (JDA) CEO Themba Mathibe off the roll this week under questionable circumstances. Although the NPA plans to re-enrol the case, the court’s decision clears a path for Mathibe to return to work, where he could potentially influence JDA spending decisions.

Unfortunately, this pattern of sudden dismissals is not confined to recent events or lower courts.

The Nulane Investments case was meant to be the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) flagship entry into prosecuting the Gupta family’s sprawling State Capture network. Centred on a fraudulent R25-million agricultural feasibility study