Question NW4225 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services

Reply:

(a) what are the details of specific challenges that were experienced in the  handover of the files which he referred to

1.. BACKGROUND

• For several years, the DOJ&CD had contracted with a service provider to merely store and provide access to some of its records at off-site facilities in three provinces namely, Gauteng, KwaZulu -Natal and the Western Cape.
• When the contract expired, approval was granted for these records to be taken over and managed by the current service provider
• The primary incentive for transferring the records to the current service provider was that it was going to digitize them – digitization being part of the modernisation programme of the DOJ&CD.

2. TRANSFER OF FILES FROM PREVIOUS TO CURRENT SERVICE PROVIDER

• The contract with the previous service provider entailed that, upon the expiry of the contract, all files had to be handed over to the Department within a period of four (4) months.
• The handover process commenced at the beginning of March 2023 and it was completed on 21 August 2023. It took a long period – almost six (6) months – due to logistical challenges on the side of the previous service provider.
• It was during the handover period that there were challenges in accessing the files in all of the above-mentioned offices, as most of those required were, at the time, still being processed.

3. CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED BY THE SERVICE PROVIDER

• The challenges related to the undesirable condition of boxes and files received from the previous service provider are as follows:
  1. . Burnt files;
  2. . File covers cut;
  3. . Loose pages inside boxes;
  4. . Water-damaged files; and
  5. . Damaged boxes.

Interventions for 3.1. – 3.3.

Task teams consisting of officials from the relevant Master's Offices have been created for each province to assist the service provider to arrange the files and scan them properly.

Interventions for 3.4.

The service provider laboriously separates the pages, photocopies and then scans them properly.

Interventions for 3.4.

The service provider continues to repackage and index the boxes and files, so that they can be easily traceable and, upon request, made available speedily.

4. CHALLENGES EXPERIENCED BY DOJ&CD WITH ACCESSING FILE

4.1 The records at the off-site facilities (in addition to those of the Magistrates and High Courts) are of the following Masters Offices

• Pretoria;
• Durban;
• Cape Town;
• Johannesburg; and
• Pietermaritzburg.

4.2 Major Challenge

• During the handover period, there were challenges in accessing the files in all of the above-mentioned offices, as most of the required files were, at the time, still being processed.
• However, currently the challenges with accessing the files mainly relates to the Pretoria and Pietermaritzburg Masters Offices, because the majority of their files haven’t been scanned. The additional challenge is that the majority of these files haven’t been repackaged and indexed, making the tracing process difficult.

Interventions

• The current service provider has committed to complete the re-packaging and indexing process by the end of December 2023. This will result in that, come the new year, all files shall be easily traceable and made available immediately – even if such files haven’t been scanned on the system.

4.3 Other Challenges

• 1. For security reasons, namely that no security updates can be done on Windows versions below 10, officials who don’t have Windows 10 on their computer equipment cannot connect to the portal.

Interventions– Processes to procure & and update computer equipment are underway.

• 2. Network challenges and internet access – Unstable and/or slow internet connection results in officials being timed out and having to log in numerous times or not able to log-in at all

Interventions– Upgrading of bandwidth is being considered by ICT.