Question NW1452 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services

Reply:

During the period of the lockdown, both at Risk Alert Levels 3, 4 and 5, courts dealt with a minimal number of trials. Most cases were postponed in order to limit the number of people going to courts and thereby risking the spread of the virus. Such postponements led to further increases in the already existing criminal case backlogs.

A case backlog is a case which has remained open on the roll:

(a) in case of a district court case, for a period in excess of six (6) months or more; and

(b) in case of a regional court, a case which has been on the roll for nine (9) months or more.

The statistics for backlog cases as verified with the NPA for both (a) and (b) above, are as follows:

DISTRICT COURTS		District Courts		REGIONAL COURTS		Regional Courts
EASTERN CAPE		6 796		EASTERN CAPE		2 148
FREE STATE		1 715		FREE STATE		1 086
GAUTENG		6 451		GAUTENG		6 339
KZN		4 815		KZN		3 205
LIMPOPO		3 216		LIMPOPO		1 404
MPUMALANGA		2 876		MPUMALANGA		1 816
NORTH WEST		2 081		NORTH WEST		1 800
NORTHERN CAPE		1 083		NORTHERN CAPE		685
WESTERN CAPE		10 733		WESTERN CAPE		3 912
TOTAL BACKLOG CASES		39 766		TOTAL BACKLOG CASES		22 395

There are continuous engagements between the Department and Regional Court Presidents as well as Chief Magistrates to develop mechanisms to address the escalating backlogs. The engagement has led to the establishment of the Integrated Case-Backlog Plan through which cases are being arranged for trial in terms of their priority.

It is however difficult to effectively implement the plan at this particular time due to the spikes in COVID-19 infections, which in turn lead to constant closure of courts due to positive cases of infections being confirmed randomly. The implementation of the plan will become more effective once the country has reached its peak and subsequent decline in the infection number.