Question NW2856 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services

Reply:

a) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (the Department) started capturing data through the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS): Maintenance in 2019/2020. Therefore, this response is based on the data captured from 2019/2020 to 2021/2022 financial years.

The average turnaround time in respect of cases lodged for child maintenance orders and the issuing of child maintenance orders for the period 2019 to 2022 is tabulated below:

Region	Average days per case: 2019/2020	Average days per case: 2020/2021	Average days per case: 2021/2022
1. Eastern Cape	87.30	73.08	137.44
2. Free State	58.24	60.41	90.38
3. Gauteng	86.12	68.42	100.91
4. Kwa-Zulu Natal	69.86	61.01	103.85
5. Limpopo	93.11	62.09	109.48
6. Mpumalanga	105.08	60.72	87.81
7. North West	76.00	82.95	88.60
8. Northern Cape	52.49	55.10	66.12
9. Western Cape	67.11	74.64	84.04
Grand Total	81.02	66.99	102.02

*Maintenance on ICMS was only introduced in 2019, and data collection prior is not accounted for in this response

N.B: The turnaround time is calculated from the Date of Proper Service to the date on which the Court Order is granted. In 2019/2020, it took an average of 81.02 days to finalise a case, and it took an average of 102.02 days to finalise a case in 2021/2022. It took 21 days more to finalise a case in 2021/2022 when compared to 2019/2020 financial year.

b) From 2019/2020 financial year, there are 13 219 pending matters across all the courts nationally. The table below provides a Provincial breakdown”

Region	Number of Cases
1. Eastern Cape	1 377
2. Free State	1 236
3. Gauteng	3 199
4. Kwa-Zulu Natal	1 878
5. Limpopo	464
6. Mpumalanga	826
7. North West	1 110
8. Northern Cape	743
9. Western Cape	2 386
Grand Total	13 219

END