JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

Speech by Ms Brigitte Mabandla, MP, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, during a briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, on Tuesday, 06 May 2008, at Parliament, Cape Town

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee; Deputy Minister;

Members of the Portfolio Committee; Ladies and Gentlemen;

I would like to express my appreciation, on behalf of my Department, to the Committee for inviting us to brief the Committee on the primary mandate of the Department within the broader context of our national goals.

It is an important occasion in which we hope to establish an understanding on the key policy priorities of the Department, and how these will be funded and accounted for.

Express gratitude on behalf of department to the committee on the ongoing work of transforming the justice system for the benefit of all the people of SA. Thus eliminating the inequities of the past and entrenching the values in our constitution and providing an anchor to the socioeconomic transformation of our society, in particular eliminating poverty and improving education.

Providing access to justice is key objective of our department. Improving our capacity to deliver justice to all, is an imperative for the reform we have undertaken. Thus enhancing organization efficiency is important.

We have also placed emphasis on the transformation of the judicial and legal system.

Chairperson,

During the past financial year we dealt with a number of challenges that we needed to address. Some of these challenges were raised by the Portfolio Committee and by the Auditor-General in our annual report. I will give an overview of some of these matters during this briefing and the Director - General and his team will expand on these issues later today and tomorrow. The Director-General will also reflect on some of the improvements we have made to attend to the weaknesses which were identified by the Committee and the Auditor-General.

The challenges of financial management that we have been seized with during the past financial year include, inter alia;

·                Eliminating under-expenditure

 

·                Improving efficiency in the justice system

 

Expenditure Trends

Honourable Members;

We all know that my Department had challenges of under-expenditure in the previous financial years. For example, in the financial year 2006/7 we only spent 92, 7% of our budget. We had an under expenditure of R472, 393 million.

I am very pleased to report that in the financial year 2007/8 we spent 97, 7% of our budget, and we reduced our under-expenditure from R472 million in 2006/07 to R170, 192 million in 2007/08. Part of the reason for the under-expenditure is the dependency on the Department of Public Works to submit their invoices on time. Finally, personnel and operational expenditure was on 99, 4% with the only area of under spending being expenditure on the procurement of Buildings and Fixed Structures (77, 2%). While this is not perfect, we certainly hope to do better even this financial year.

Budgets


Between 2007/08 and 2010/11, the Department's budget is expected to increase at an average annual rate of 10 per cent, from R8.5 billion to R11.7 billion. (This includes direct charges against the National Revenue Fund.) The largest part of this increase goes towards improving the capacity at courts, and appointing more prosecutors, public defenders and judicial officers.

The 2008 Budget sets out additional allocations of R256.3 million in 2008/09, R404.5 million in 2009/10 and R537.8 million in 2010/11 to attend to: IT modernisation projects in the Department, improvement of services; increases in the compensation of employees to implement the 2007 resolution of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council; adjustments to inflation; accommodation charges; more human resource capacity in the Legal Aid Board; and appointing more judges and magistrates.

The Department has identified efficiency savings of R 178. 7 million in operational expenditure, particularly subsistence and travel costs, which include accommodation costs, air- and road travel, and car rental costs.

Of the R1.5 billion available over the MTEF period for infrastructure investment, 39.4 per cent (or R591 million) will be spent on large infrastructure projects, 26.3 per cent (R395 million) on small projects, and 32 per cent (R480 million) on maintenance projects.

Issues raised by seop A

SCOPA has raised certain weaknesses that needed our urgent attention and this included Asset Management, Management of Monies-in- Trust, Under-spending and Supply Chain Management. A project manager and project management teams were established to perform an independent stock take on movable assets. The due date for the completion of the accurate asset register is 15 May 2008. 284 asset controllers were trained in 2007/8 to improve efficiency in the management of assets.

With regard to Monies-in- Trust a tender evaluation process has been concluded and services providers were given the opportunity to submit best and final offers. The tender process will be concluded by July 2008 to commence with contract negotiation with the successful bidder. The service provider will be expected to conclude the system development by September/October 2008 for full implementation to commence in January 2009.

On under-spending the Department manage to substantially increase financial performance with a 5% increase in overall spending ­

spending increasing from 92, 7% to 97, 7 %. The improved spending was a result of the timeous identification in the in year budget reviews of possible savings and the virement of savings to other priority areas. These re allocation of projected savings was confirmed through parliamentary approval during the adjusted estimates, approval by the accounting officer and national treasury approval as prescribed in the PFMA. Funds were reallocated in August and November as prescribed by the budget management framework of the Department - considering the spending priorities needs of the department, NPA and LAB

Funding was re allocated to fund, inter alia, scanners for scanning court documentation, the CCTV court recording solution for children's courts, IT hardware renewal for ISM component, case backlog reduction in LBA and Salary shortfall for the SI U

The timeous reallocation of projected savings resulted in a reduction of the last month expenditure with March expenditure being 13% of final expenditure compared with 16 % in previous years. This prior planning eliminated the perception of fiscal dumping.

In order to improve the functioning of procurement activities the Accounting officer approved a revised personnel establishment (structure) for the supply chain management division in full compliance with the supply chain management framework as prescribed by National Treasury. Fifteen positions have been advertised and the selection process is underway. Additional 19 positions will be advertised shortly after the job evaluation process has been completed.

Access to justice

Colleagues, comrades

I want to indicate that enabling the citizens to access justice is a key component of our transformation agenda and the relevant components in this regard is court services. We are providing courts where there were none before.

Chairperson,

In the last financial year we significantly increased our capacity in key areas affecting the performance of our courts. This includes recruiting key admin staff such as court managers, clerks, maintenance officers, as well as judges and magistrates. We were able to reduce our vacancy rates from the previous 230/0 to 12%

The modernisation of our courts has been one of our key achievements. We trained hundreds of officials on the use of our justice deposit account system which has improved our ability to process maintenance payments.

Courts have been built and opened in rural and previously disadvantaged areas. Those that have been completed and are ready for official opening this year are:

·                Daveyton

 

·                Middledrift

 

·                Sekgosese

 

·                Waterval

 

The Department will this year complete the construction of the following 5 courts and 5 additions! conversions to existing courts:

·                Tsakane Magistrate court

 

·                Mitchells Plain Magistrate court

 

·                Richmond Magistrate court

 

·                Augrabies Magistrate court

 

·                Polokwane High Court interim

 

·                Stanger Magistrate court

 

·                Colesberg Magistrate court

 

·                Kagiso Magistrate court

 

·                Ekangala Magistrate court

 

The Department has also commenced with the development process for the following courts:

·                Soweto Magistrate court (Prioritised)

 

·                Mamelodi Magistrate court

 

·                Ntuzuma Magistrate court

 

·                High court for Mpumalanga (Priority)

 

·                High court for Limpopo (Priority)

 

·                Judicial Training Institute Campus

 

The Department is going to focus on continuing with the momentum established in the previous year. In our attempt to achieve our vision of enabling access to justice, and improving efficiency in the justice system as a whole we are going to focus, amongst others, on the re-designation of certain courts to build capacity in the courts to increase access to justice. The spatial distribution of most of the magistrates courts still reflect the old system of demarcation which was based on racial and geo-political separation which created vast disparities in the court infrastructure and resources in the former White and Black areas. In terms of this dispensation better equipped courts were established in historically white areas, while communities living in the townships and former Bantustans were served through Branch Courts and Periodical Courts. These Branch Courts and Periodical Courts, in contrast to the other courts provide limited services relating to criminal law adjudication. These courts do not have their defined areas of jurisdiction but exercise the jurisdiction of the main court in the district. Neither do they have any budget or staff of their own but are dependent on the main courts in the urban areas and cities for administrative support services. There are 90 Branch Courts and 246 periodical courts. Most of the periodical courts are in police stations, while a few are on private farms. While Periodical Courts on private farms have ceased to operate, processes are underway to phase out those in the police stations. Accessible sites are being identified to establish circuit courts to replace the police-based periodical courts.

Twenty three of the 90 Branch Courts will be re-designated as full courts with effect from 01 August 2008 or as soon as it is practical. The re-designation of the identified Branch Courts will have a huge impact on service delivery. These courts will provide a full range of justice services, namely criminal cases, civil disputes, family law services and services of the Master of the High Court. We would want to eradicate by the end of 2009, this systematic, demographic delineation that marginalised our people from accessing justice, and restore the human dignity of the communities who endured these injustices of the past. Of the 23 Branch Courts that will be re-designated, 10 are in Gauteng and 3 in KwaZulu-Natal, while the other provinces share the rest.

The following are some of the immediate benefits for the poor communities living in former Bantustans and former townships:

Reduction of travelling costs: In most instances the Branch Courts and their corresponding courts in the main districts are located far apart. For example the Poffader Branch Court in the Northern Cape is more than 200 kilometers from its main court in Kenhardt. People living in the proximity of the Branch Courts still have to commute, at great expense, to access services such as maintenance and claims for deceased estates from the courts in the main districts and this results in hardship and prejudice for the vulnerable members of our society. The re-designation of the Branch Courts into proper courts will bring great relief to these communities.

Alleviation of the congestion in the main courts: Most of the main courts in the district are congested and the infrastructure is stretched to the limit due to over crowding. For example the extension of maintenance and other family law services to courts in Soweto will reduce the number of people served by the Family Court In Johannesburg by more than 60%.

Re-designation will be commensurate with some of the developments taking place in certain areas: Places such as Midrand and Khayelitsha are growing rapidly and the re-designation of the Branch Courts in those areas is a necessary consequence to meet the future needs of the community in those areas.

Re-designation will lead to efficient management of resources: The current practice whereby resources deployed in the Branch Courts are managed from the main courts in the towns and cities leads to poor management and the quality of service delivered is compromised. The re-designation of these courts will bring the management of services right to the service delivery points and thereby reduce the current wastage and time spent by officials in commuting between the main court and Branch Courts.

The review of the criminal justice system is currently undertaken in partnership with Business Against Crime. It focuses on, among others:

·                The establishment of a new coordinating and management structure for the Criminal Justice System at all levels

 

·                The establishment of an integrated and seamless national CJS It database/system containing all information relevant to the CJS, and review and harmonise the template for gathering information relating to the CJS.

 

·                The modernisation, in an integrated and holistic manner, of all aspects of the system and equipment of the CJS

 

Legislative programme

The year under review was a productive one as far as the Department's Legislative Programme is concerned. During the year under review, nine important Bills were introduced into Parliament. These Bills deal with issues ranging from judicial training, judicial accountability, discretionary minimum sentences, the reform of the customary law of succession, civil jurisdiction of Regional Courts and Traditional courts.

Mention should also be made of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Bill, which was finalised by Parliament at the end of 2007. This ground-breaking law revolutionises the outdated law relating to sexual offences. Most of its provisions came into operation on 16 December 2007.

The Child Justice Bill is being considered by the Committee.

A number of other important Bills has been finalised and introduced into Parliament, namely:

·                The Jurisdiction of Regional Courts Amendment Bill, which confers civil jurisdiction on the Regional Courts. This Bill will correct the anomaly brought into our court system in when the Regional Courts were established in 1952 under the apartheid system. The immediate consequences of this legislation will ease the hardship and prejudices of the vulnerable poor members of society who are compelled by the current system to seek legal redress in remote courts, some times beyond the provinces where they reside.

 

·                The Traditional Courts Bill, which will establish a niche for the traditional leaders in promoting social cohesion and restorative justice. We look forward to be guided by the Committee on this matter.

 

·                The Renaming of High Courts, which is intended to address the undesirable situation where certain High Courts are still referred to by their names under the previous constitutional dispensation.

 

Legislation dealing with floor crossing, the Directorate of Special Operations, and to regulate the postponement of certain criminal proceedings by means of audio-visual linkage and to provide for the expungement of criminal records will be introduced soon.

Transformation of the judiciary and the legal sector

There has been a huge debate in the country over the concept of the transformation of the judiciary. The debate takes various forms. A policy document is being drafted on these aspects and will be released soon. Another key aspect of the transformative agenda is the need to establish professional skills within the judiciary. The South African Judicial Education Institute Bill is a positive outcome of this transformative agenda. The Bill has been approved by the National Assembly and. it is receiving the attention of the Select preliminary budget to commence with the establishment of the Institute. The Heads of Courts have been discussing the matter and in time we will receive suggestions on how best to proceed with the matter. Obviously there are other stakeholders who will be consulted in this process.

Gender

Honourable Members,

We have been seized with strengthening state capacity and the promotion of women's rights. The Department in collaboration with all state institutions working for the advancement of women's rights has developed education and promotional materials. The formation of the South African Woman Lawyers Association, (SAWLA) is another milestone. This is an association of qualified women lawyers in the country. Its aims and objectives are to promote access to justice and improve professional expertise for women in law, and to advance equity in the distribution of work to women in the legal sector.

We have also made some strides to improve the under representation of women in the High Court bench. 19 women practitioners have recently underwent a specially designed judicial education programme to enhance their opportunity to be appointed to the judges position and they will be appointed to acting judges positions soon. Another intake of 23 women will undergo the same programme from June 2008.

International Cooperation

Pursuant to our Government Policy and the United Nations Security Council Resolution, 1325, (2000) the Department convened the African Regional Meeting on Gender Justice in Cape Town on 21 -23 March 2007. Ministers and high level delegates, in particular

women from the following countries participated in the session, Angola, Burundi, Cote d'ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Mozambique, Namibia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Southern Sudan, Sweden and Southern Sudan. The meeting agreed to issue a request to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to call for a thematic debate in the UN Security Council. The latter debate was subsequently held in October 2007. The Department has developed a programme for the exchange of experience and expertise on justice matters with a particular focus on gender justice within and among conflict affected countries in Africa such as Liberia and Southern Sudan.

Honourable Members,

The Department has embarked on a programme to assist the DRC in improving the DRC's court system, in particular the training of the DRC magistrates and assisting in setting up the relevant courts' IT infrastructure.

The Department has forged partnerships with Monuc's Rule of Law Unit and Mecer on the training of DRC magistrates and assistance in setting the IT infrastructure respectively. The Government of France, in particular, the Ministry of Justice has been approached with a proposal to become a partner on the training of the DRC magistrates.

We will continue to improve the integrity of the department. As you will notice most senior managers have signed performance agreements. Most of them have signed declarations and we have improved our rate of resolving our disciplinary cases

Conclusion,

Once again thank you for inviting us to this Portfolio Committee briefing today and I wish you all well in the year ahead.

Thank you!