For years, many South Africans have simply walked away from money owed to them because taking someone to court often costs more than the claim itself. Whether it's an unpaid debt, a landlord refusing to return a deposit, a contractor who took your money and disappeared, or a business that breached a contract, the legal system has often felt too expensive and too intimidating for ordinary people. The Small Claims Court was created to change that by allowing people to represent themselves without paying legal fees. Now, government has expanded its reach even further by increasing the maximum amount that can be claimed from R20,000 to R30,000. On paper, this sounds like a major victory for access to justice, opening the doors to thousands more South Africans who previously fell outside the court's limits. But does simply raising the threshold solve the real problems?
What about long waiting times, a lack of public awareness, limited court resources, and the fact that winning a case doesn't always mean you'll actually get paid? Tonight we ask: Has government
made justice more accessible, or is this just a bigger promise inside the same struggling system?