| South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg | |
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The court building on Pritchard Street |
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| Established | 1902 |
| Jurisdiction | Gauteng, South Africa |
| Location | Johannesburg |
| Composition method | Presidential appointment on the advice of the Judicial Service Commission |
| Authorized by | Chp. 8 of the Constitution; Supreme Court Act, 1959 |
| Decisions are appealed to | Supreme Court of Appeal or Constitutional Court |
| Judge President (Gauteng) | |
| Currently | Bernard Ngoepe |
| Deputy Judge President (South Gauteng) | |
| Currently | Phineas Mojapelo |
The South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg (formerly the Witwatersrand Local Division and commonly known as the Johannesburg High Court) is one of the High Courts of South Africa. It is located in central Johannesburg and has general jurisdiction over the southern part of Gauteng province, which contains the Johannesburg metropolitan area and the mining towns of the Witwatersrand.
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Under the South African Republic the Witwatersrand gold fields were visited by a circuit court subordinate to the High Court of the Republic in Pretoria.[1] After the British conquest of the Transvaal in the Second Anglo-Boer War, two courts were established in 1902 for the new colony: the Supreme Court of the Transvaal in Pretoria, and subordinate to it the High Court of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.[2] On the creation of the Union of South Africa these courts became the Transvaal Provincial Division and the Witwatersrand Local Division, respectively, of the Supreme Court of South Africa.
At the commencement of the current Constitution of South Africa in 1997, the provincial and local divisions of the Supreme Court became High Courts. In 2009 the Witwatersrand Local Division was officially renamed to the "South Gauteng High Court, Johannesburg".[3] The Superior Courts Bill, currently before Parliament, proposes to transform the court into a local seat of a single Gauteng Division of a single High Court of South Africa.
The court has jurisdiction over all cases arising in the magisterial districts of Alberton, Boksburg, Germiston, Johannesburg, Kempton Park, Krugersdorp, Randburg, Randfontein, Roodepoort and Westonaria. In addition it has jurisdiction over civil cases arising in the districts of Benoni, Brakpan, Delmas, Nigel, Springs, Vanderbijlpark and Vereeniging.[4] As it is a local division, the South Gauteng court shares this jurisdiction concurrently with the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.
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