Local business and church leaders and other high-profile representatives gathered outside the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday to send out a clear message: Grahamstown is standing united against moving the seat of the High Court to Bhisho.
Local business and church leaders and other high-profile representatives gathered outside the Grahamstown High Court on Wednesday to send out a clear message: Grahamstown is standing united against moving the seat of the High Court to Bhisho.
Jon Campbell, one of the Pick n Pay partners said, “From a business point of view, we are going to lose a substantial amount of turnover if the court moves because we’re going to lose customers.”
Bishop Ebenezer Ntlali represented the church. He said, “the message we want to send out is that the High Court is one of the major organs of the city of Grahamstown.
It’s good to separate the legislature and the High Court. Bhisho has the legislature, let the High Court remain in Grahamstown.”
Rhodes University Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Academic and Student Affairs, Dr Sizwe Mabizela, said, “As a university, we benefit immensely from the presence of the High Court.
Our students have accessto library material and the High Court judges are contributing to the leadership of the university as they serve on council.
Our Law faculty also benefits from the sharp academic minds that are just down the road. It doesn’t make sense to centralise everything in Bhisho.
The High Court has been here for 141 years and it is making an immense contribution to the Grahamstown community as a whole. As a university, the message is that we don’t want to see the High Court relocated.”
Principal franchisee of Pam Golding Properties, Daphne Timm, said it was important to present a united front: “It’s about time we all stood together to get this stopped.
In terms of the property market, those members of the legal profession who are forced to relocate will have to sell their homes.
Putting just 60 new homes on the market will in effect flood the Grahamstown property market, resulting in lower house prices.
The sellers will make a loss and be unable to afford the relocation costs and comparatively higher house prices in Buffalo City.”
The Grahamstown High Court Action Committee sent a letter to President Jacob Zuma on Monday to oppose the move.
Committee chairperson, Archbishop Thabo Makgoba, said, “This move is not coming before me for the first time.
After the committee wrote to the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Bridgette Mabandla, in 2006, she unequivocally agreed to keep Grahamstown as the seat of the High Court.
It was agreed that Grahamstown is conducive to the proper administration of justice and moving the Court would be nothing short of catastrophic for the large segment of the city’s community. It is the poorest of the poor that I am most concerned about.”
