(1) | The Minister, acting in consultation with the Chief Justice, must appoint a senior official in the Office of the Chief Justice as the Registrar of Judges' Registrable Interests. |
(2) | The Registrar must open and keep a register, called the Register of Judges' Registrable Interests, and must— |
(a) | record in the Register particulars of Judges' registrable interests; |
(b) | amend any entries in the Register when necessary; and |
(c) | perform the other duties in connection with the Register as required in terms of this Act. |
(3) | Every judge must disclose to the Registrar, in the prescribed form, particulars of all his or her registrable interests and those of his or her immediate family members. |
(4) | The first disclosure in terms of subsection (3) must be within 60 days of a date fixed by the President by proclamation, and thereafter annually and in such instances as prescribed. |
(5) | The Minister, acting in consultation with the Chief Justice, must make regulations regarding the content and management of the Register referred to in subsection (2), which regulations must at least prescribe— |
(a) | the format of the Register; |
(b) | the kinds of interests of judges and their immediate family members that are regarded as registrable interests; |
(c) | the manner and the instances in which, and the time limits within which, registrable interests must be disclosed to the Registrar; |
(d) | a confidential and a public part of the Register and the interests to be recorded in those parts respectively; |
(e) | the recording, in the public part of the register, of all registrable interests derived from the application of section 11; |
(f) | a procedure providing for public access to the public part of the Register and a procedure for providing access to, and maintaining confidentiality of the confidential part of the Register; and |
(g) | the lodging of a complaint in terms of section 14(1) by the Registrar, in the event of— |
(i) | failure to register any registrable interest by any judge, including any failure to register any such interest within a prescribed time limit; or |
(ii) | disclosure of false or misleading information by any judge. |
(6) | The regulations may determine different criteria for judges in active service and judges who had been discharged from active service or judges in an acting capacity, including in respect of matters referred to in subsection (5)(d). |
(7) | The Minister must table the first regulations under this section in Parliament, for approval, within four months of the commencement of this Act, provided that if consensus could not be achieved as contemplated in subsection (5) both versions of the regulations must be tabled in Parliament within the said period. |
(8) | When the regulations or any amendment thereto is tabled in Parliament, Parliament may, after obtaining and considering public comment thereon, approve the regulations or such amendment— |
(a) | without any changes thereto; or |
(b) | with such changes thereto as may be effected by Parliament. |
[Section 13 inserted by section 9 of Act No. 20 of 2008]