Every few years the Government does its best to wreck the legal and economic life of Makana by proposing to move the High Court to Bhisho. In the mid 1990s I assisted the fight to keep the court here with some maps and population data that showed Makhanda (what was then Grahamstown) to be the best location. We are currently facing the fifth attempt to relocate the court and, following a meeting with Izak Smuts, I have repeated that work to support the Makana High Court Action Committee’s submission to the Moseneke Commission.
The current maps have used a Geographic Information System and population data sourced from the 2106 Community Survey (Statistics South Africa Report 03-01-08) to establish whether Makhanda or Bhisho should be the main seat of the High Court.
To decide just how accessible they are it’s important to set a baseline and I’ve used 200 km since that would allow for a trip to and from the High Court in one day.
When we look at just how many districts lie either wholly or in part within 200kms the first map shows that Makhanda serves 17 districts – including the Province’s two metropoles – with a combined population of 3,695,867. The second map shows that Bhisho serves 18 districts – but only one metropole – and so their combined population is lower at 3,285,725.
Clearly Makhanda is better located than Bhisho as more people are located within the 200km radius. Furthermore Makhanda is midway between the two metropoles.
Every one of the previous attempts has reached the same conclusion – that Makhanda (Makana/Grahamstown) should remain the main seat of the High Court. I hope that the Moseneke Commission follows suit.
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