Question NW2411 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
27 September 2022 - NW2411
Mente, Ms NV to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
Whether, with regard to his department’s report that 22 211 out of 143 824 applications for protection orders were granted in the 2018-19 financial year, and in light of the evidence that indicates that the figures for domestic violence, including femicide, are alarmingly high, there is a plan to electronically roll out a system to (a) capture applications and (b) issue protection orders which is linked to the police, health and social development systems; if not, why not; if so, what (i) is the date of the of the roll out and (ii) are the further relevant details?
Reply:
a) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development already has a functional integrated electronic repository for domestic violence protection orders. During 2018/19 financial year, an Integrated Case Management System for Domestic Violence (ICMS: DV) was introduced in all district courts to capture applications for protection orders. This system monitors the flow of these applications in the court system. It further provides for disaggregated sets of data metrics to analyse trends per court, whilst giving a quantitative performance of each province.
In 2021/22 financial year, the Department commenced with the alignment of the ICMS: DV Module to the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 (Act No. 14 of 2021) and the Draft National Directives for the management of this repository. The Draft National Directives were published for public comments on 15 June 2022 and the inputs thereto are being considered for incorporation.
It might also be worth-indicating that in the previous financial year, the Department further commenced with the development of the Online System for Applications for Protection Orders in line with the Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 and its Draft Regulations. The plan is to integrate the Online System with the ICMS: DV as soon as the final Regulations are released. This is to ensure that the domestic violence systems are in sync, coherent and seamless in operations throughout the court system. The closing date for public comments was 14 July 2022 and it is anticipated that the Domestic Violence Regulations will be finalized and submitted to the Minister for approval.
b) The link of the ICMS: DV to key participating Departments is planned to commence in the next financial year (i.e. 2023/2024) as part of the next phase of development. The integration will be housed in the Integrated Justice System (IJS) Transversal Hub where key criminal justice role-players congregate to exchange data.
i. The systems integration between the participating Departments will commence in 2023/2024 financial year as part of Phase 2 of the project, and the rollout thereof is planned for a year later.
ii. Phase 2 of the project will start after the following activities for Phase 1 are completed:
- The upgrade of the Department’s Data Centre and migration of the systems to the new Infrastructure so as to ensure the stabilization and optimisation of the environment as part of the recovery process from the Ransomware Attack;
- The incorporation of the requirements in the e-Judiciary Workspace to ensure integration of the administration and judicial functions in domestic violence; and
- The procurement and incorporation of the Digital signature solution for the Judiciary.
The Phase 1 activities are expected to be finalised before the end of this financial year.
END