Margie Inggs
10 July 2009
Johannesburg — ALL South African citizens had a legitimate expectation to have their court cases conducted in their own language and this was backed up by the constitution, Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe said last night.
Speaking at a meeting of the KwaZulu-Natal Progressive Professionals Network, he said this legitimate expectation would play an important role in transformation.
The concept was first introduced into English law in 1969 and applied to all English-speaking countries, including SA, where it was firmly embedded.
Section 6 of the constitution imposed a duty on the courts to advance the status and usage of African languages.
"This is important because any language gets diluted when it is interpreted," Hlophe said.
"Interpreters are not walking dictionaries and the meaning can get lost during interpretation."
Legitimate expectation meant a fair hearing before a decision was taken and meant that the applicant was entitled to be heard before any adverse decision was taken.
It also anticipated that a favourable decision would be granted.
"There is no point in protesting procedural rights and ignoring substantive rights," he said.
He said section 34 of the constitution guaranteed every citizen access to the courts, so everyone had a legitimate expectation of this.
"However, this is not happening because it is being hindered by the legal system," he said.
"Before colonisation, every African nationality had their own legal system, but after colonisation a foreign system comprising a fusion of English law and Roman Dutch law was imposed on them, which did not reflect their values."
He said people should not be driven to obey the law because of fear, but because it reflected their value system.
"We must make the law relevant to our citizens and we are not seeing that," he said.
The judge president also said that any citizen deprived of the opportunity of having a reasonable dwelling place had a legitimate expectation that when the government delivered on housing, he would be first on the list.
"Any South African is entitled to the legitimate expectation that when the time comes for delivery he will be given preference."
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