Stephan Jacobs is the Chairperson. Due to the fact that the Administration of the Witwatersrand Local Division has collapsed, more and more practitioners from Johannesburg and surrounding areas had to utilise the Transvaal Provincial Division as a Court to litigate from. The effect was an increase in applications for Default Judgments, an over crowed Motion Court Roll without the necessary allocation of resources from the Department of Justice.
Since July 2008 meetings took place between the National Department of Justice, The Registrar of the Transvaal Provincial Division and the representatives of the Pretoria and Johannesburg Associations to formulate suggestions to alleviate the problems in the Transvaal Provincial Division.
Subsequently 20 Deputy Registrars have been appointed by the Department and the situation has improved dramatically. This Association’s representative was not invited to meetings with the Judge President and all communication presently takes place between the Law Society of the Northern Provinces and the Judge President.
The Association is communicating with the Law Society of the Northern Province to ensure that a representative of this Association is invited to such meetings on a higher level to ensure that the profession’s problems are communicated. The Association does, however, communicate with Gerrie Prinsloo and Dave Peterson and their assistance is greatly appreciated by the Association and its members.
Stephan can be reached at: sjacobs@ross.co.za
