Fair trial and access to justice in South Africa how traditional tribunals cater to the needs of rural female litigants
European and North American jurisprudence imbued the concepts of fair trial and access to justice in Western culture. The United Nations later proclaimed these foreign principles 'universal human rights', seemingly oblivious of the marginal role played by African states during conceptualisation. African governments, mindful of their minimal contribution to the content of individual rights, however, introduced communal rights and duties in the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. This was the situation internationally, and in the region of Africa. On the domestic scene, South Africa ratified both international and African human rights conventions; hence, its Constitution incorporated the rights of access to justice, fair trial, equality and culture. These rights, however, create conflict during dispute resolution. This is evident with the country's multiple legal systems, allowing urban and rural litigants to engage in forum shopping, by approaching formal courts or traditional tribunals in civil and criminal contexts. In the formal courts, rural litigants (especially women, as lower income earners) encounter exorbitantly high costs of litigation, long travel distances to court, alien laws and procedures and, all too often, a foreign language in court, making these forums inaccessible. Conversely, traditional trubunals guarantee easier access to justice because they provide affordable and comprehensible procedures, and are usually located in close proximity to parties. African tribunals, however, hinder equal standards between men and women during conflict resolution, by violating the right to gender equality — a right implicit in fair trial. Usually, traditional judicial officers accept women as complainants, witnesses or accused persons, but rarely encourage or recognise the female demographic as participants in a judicial capacity (in some cases they do not even permit them to attend judicial proceedings). In spite of these shortcomings, traditional methods advance flexible, communal and harmonious procedures, in accordance with the African culture. While these characteristics of traditional tribunals gurantee the protection of cultural equality, human rights activists are fixated with the argument that these African structures discriminate against women, and often ignore their benefits. More importantly, the proponents of human rights fail to investigate the inequalities that plague the formal justice system. Well aware of the limited research in both regards, this thesis conducts a broad critique of the South African justice system, comparing the formal with the traditional. Based on its findings, the study argues in favour of traditional tribunals, which guarantee cultural rights as well as access to justice for poorer litigants.
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