Johannesburg — THE African National Congress (ANC) has called for the Constitutional Court to be the highest court for all matters, constitutional and nonconstitutional.

The ruling party says in resolutions adopted at its conference last month that the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) should serve as an "intermediate" court of appeal, with the proviso that this should not lead to undue delays in the hearing of appeals.

According to the resolutions, decisions of the SCA will be final, if the Constitutional Court does not grant leave to appeal.

The ANC says full-bench appeals at the level of the high court should be abolished and circuit courts should be introduced at the level of the SCA.

At the ANC's policy conference last year, party policy head Jeff Radebe dismissed any concerns that the expertise of Constitutional Court judges was limited to constitutional law and that they could have a negative effect on cases involving financial matters because of a lack of expertise.

Changes to the existing court system will require amendments to the law that are likely to be resisted by the judiciary which prefers the status quo. The ANC's resolutions must be seen in the context of its attempt to provide what it calls a single, integrated, accessible and affordable court system. It wants courts to be redemarcated in rural areas to enhance "access to justice".

To this end, the ANC says, magisterial districts should be redemarcated by taking into account the boundaries of other levels of government, especially municipal boundaries and the distribution of courts in accordance with population.

The resolutions call for specialised skills to be retained, but located in a single court system. This means integrating courts such as the Competition Appeal Court, the Electoral Court and tax courts into the single system.

The party wants the Labour Appeal Court to be integrated into the SCA as a separate chamber. The Labour Court would, therefore, be integrated into each division of the high court.

The ANC will discourage the creation of further specialised courts outside a single system.

On traditional courts, the ANC plans to align these courts with the country's constitution.

It has also urged the incorporation and development of indigenous law.

On peace and stability, the resolutions call for a single police service. This means placing municipal, metro and traffic police under the command of the national police commissioner.

The resolutions also call for the Directorate of Special Operations (the Scorpions) to be dissolved and members of the DSO performing policing functions to fall under the South African Police Service.

The Scorpions have come under pressure from senior ruling party figures who accuse the unit of being a law unto itself.

The dissolution of the Scorpions is likely to be a political hot potato as the ANC steps up its efforts to get the government to implement this resolution.

The Scorpions are driving the case against ANC president Jacob Zuma which is expected to start in August. The National Prosecuting Authority's previous attempt to try Zuma was thrown out of the Durban High Court because it was not able to provide a finalised indictment against Zuma.