Compulsory Mediation In The Gauteng Division: A 10-month Implementation Review

10-Months into Operation

Ten months have passed since the Judge President of the Gauteng Division of the High Court introduced a directive making mediation compulsory before the allocation and retention of civil trial dates. The main objective of the directive was to address the severe backlog in the civil trial roll and to restore the proper functioning of the civil justice system in the Division.

This article provides a brief practical update on the implementation of the directive and highlights some of the key issues that have emerged since it came into operation.

Legal Concerns

At the outset, it is important to acknowledge that the directive was introduced amid considerable debate within the legal profession. Practitioners raised valid concerns regarding the financial burden of mediation costs, particularly for smaller firms, as well as the practical difficulty of compelling meaningful participation from institutional defendants, such as the Road Accident Fund.