Question NW2958 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
11 October 2022 - NW2958
Engelbrecht, Mr J to ask the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services
Whether there is currently a dedicated legislative drafting unit within his department; if not, why not; if so, what (a) is the current staff complement and (b) are the qualifications of each of the members who constitute the legislative drafting unit; (2) Whether there are any plans in place to augment and/or increase the capacity of the legislative drafting unit within his department; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. Yes. The department does have a Unit that is responsible for the function of drafting legislation as part of the overall responsibilities within the Chief Directorate: Legal Services.
(1)(a) The current staff complement constitutes of two posts of Director: Litigation and Senior Legal Administration Officer (MR6).
(1)(b) Qualifications of each member is as follows respectively:
- Director: Litigation - B. Proc (Law) and National Senior Certificate;
- Senior Legal Administration Officer: B- Tech Correctional Services Management, Bachelor of Law and National Senior Certificate.
2. The Department is in the process of capacitating the Unit responsible for the drafting/review of the departmental legislation through creation of a contract post(s) within the scope of Occupation Specific Dispensation for Legal Officers as applied in the Public Service.
It should also be noted that the Director Litigation reports directly to the member Senior Manager Service (Deputy Commissioner on salary level 14) responsible for the entire function of legal service in the Department.
The post establishment of the Chief Directorate Legal Services is a total of 24 posts, of this number 14 are filled and 10 are vacant.