Members of the public are invited to join the Grahamstown High Court's 150-year Jubilee celebration, on 28 November.
Members of the public are invited to join the Grahamstown High Court's 150-year Jubilee celebration, on 28 November.
Organised by the Grahamstown Attorney's Association, the general public are invited to a special sitting of the High Court 10am in Criminal A: High Court, where speeches will be given by Judge President Sangoni, advocate Izak Smuts S.C., attorney Justin Powers and the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Thereafter, there will be a procession in gowns to the Cathedral at 10.30am, followed by a service conducted by Bishop Ebenezer Ntlali of Grahamstown.
The public are invited to both these events as well.
VIPs who have been invited to attend include the President, Jacob Zuma; Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Michael Masutha; Eastern Cape Premier, Phumulo Masualle; and Executive Mayor Zamuxolo Peter.
Brin Brody, Chairman of the Grahamstown Attorney's Association, said the celebration was significant because of the city's lengthy battle to retain the High Court in Grahamstown. This was secured by the promulgation of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013.
The legal profession was one of the four pillars of Grahamstown's economy, Brody said.
The history of the high court in Grahamstown dates back to a few decades after the city was founded. According to a history complied by the Association, Parliament decided in 1864, for the one and only time when it sat in Grahamstown, to establish a Supreme Court for the Eastern Cape.
The area of the Cape Colony was too big and cumbersome for the Supreme Court in Cape Town. The Act was signed into law on 26 July 1864 when Grahamstown became a Local Division of the Supreme Court.
The Court has been situated since then on the same site that it occupies today, initially with two Judges, the Association's summary reads.
In 1957 the Court was elevated from a Local Division to the Seat of the Eastern Cape Division of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
