President Jacob Zuma on Monday urged the finalisation of the controversial Superior Courts Bill to create a single judiciary.

"The Bill has not been finalised because it raised many issues that require further consultation with the judiciaries, " Zuma said at the second Judicial Conference for SA judges in Pretoria.

"We encourage such consultations to ensure that all the stakeholders are brought on boards in developing this important legislation, however there is a need for urgency in finalising these matters," he said.

Some of the key issues the Bill sought to address were the "rationalisation of the composition, areas of jurisdiction and structures of the superior courts", the President said delivering the keynote address at the conference.

These policy positions were still largely constituted in accordance with the Superior Court Act of 1959 and needed to be "suited to the post-1994 constitutional order".

Zuma said the country needed to move toward integrating the Judicial Service Commission and the Magistrates Commission into a single appointment mechanism.

The conference theme was "Strengthening a Transforming Judiciary to Enhance Access to Justice".

Opening the conference, Constitutional Court Chief Justice Pius Langa said the conference was about judges looking at themselves and their role in society.

He said there had been a "sea change" in terms of transformation of the judiciary.

"... but of course this is an ongoing project... at the moment it is far from satisfactory."

A 'cornerstone' of democracy

In his address, Zuma said transformation should be undertaken without interfering with the principle of judicial independence.

"An independent judiciary is one of the cornerstones of any democracy. As the executive we respect without reservation, the principle of judicial independence and the rule of law.

"We must also state that all institutions in our country should continue to undergo transformation, not only the judiciary."

Zuma said access to justice included ensuring the poorest of the poor had access to justice and also included ensuring human rights and the rule of law were central to the struggle for a just society.

Zuma urged judges to work harder to deal with the perception that criminals' rights were prioritised.

"We also need to work harder to deal with the perception that the rights of criminals are prioritised above those of the rights of victims, which is an issue of access to justice for victims.

"In this regard, the approach to the granting of bail needs to be examined. Communities see alleged perpetrators arrested and then swiftly released only to commit further crimes or intimidate witnesses," Zuma said.

Other issues to be tackled by the conference include access to quality justice, the state of court rolls and backlogs in each division, problems and solutions to backlogs and successes with case roll management.

"Other important issues to be discussed will be the use of languages in courts and a single judiciary, a route to access to quality justice," the department said.

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