It is with great pleasure that we are gathered here today, to launch the Electronic Funds Transfer Direct – Payment System, here at Phillippi. It is once again our bold statement that speaks to the broad programme by our government for the effective and efficient eradication of poverty through the administration of justice.
In championing the cause of the child amongst our communities it is to further what the stalwarts of our struggle for freedom and democracy such as Moses Kotane and Oliver Tambo spoke of in the affirmative. On respective separate occasions,M these colossal icons of our struggle concurred with the wisdom that any nation or community that does not take care of its youth, by so doing, it forfeits its own claim to a future! In the same spirit, the constitution of our Republic enjoins us to advance the interests of our children. Just to highlight what the constitution says in this regard, allow me to make a direct quote from the constitution itself:
Clauses 28 (1) Every child has the right:
(a) to a name and a nationality from birth
(b) to family care or parental care, or to appropriate alternative care when removed from the family environment
(c) to basic nutrition, shelter, basic health care services and social services
(d) to be protected from maltreatment, neglect, abuse or degradation
(e) to be protected from exploitative labour practices
(f) not to be required or permitted to perform work or provide services that –
(i) are inappropriate for a person of that child’s age
(ii) place at risk the child’s well being, education, physical or mental health or spiritual, moral or social development
(g) not to be detained except as a measure of last resort, in which case, in addition to the rights a child enjoys under sections 12 and 35, the child may be detained only for the shortest appropriate period of time and the right to be –
(i) kept separately from detained persons over the age of 18 years; and
(ii) treated in a manner, and kept in conditions, that take into account of the child’s age.
This is the broad text and spirit within which we as a community of Phillippi as well as all other communities in our country must approach issues pertaining our children. Given the various experiences of children abuse and the general violation of their rights, it was important that the constitution speaks very clearly on the rights of children. Clause 28 (2) further clearly stipulates that a child’s best interests are of paramount importance in every matter concerning the child.
As we are gathered here today, we are guided by this principle, that the rights and best interests of our children must be our priority concern. It is the spirit within which we mobilise every member of the community of Phillippi, to take up Moses Kotane and Oliver Tambo’s fallen spear, by fighting for the rights of children. By definition, children are amongst the most vulnerable members of our communities.
It is upon us as adults to ensure that there is no child who suffers abuse. It is important that we join hands and report any abuse to the relevant authorities. I am aware that in the Sedibeng region, a woman who saw children suffering from trafficking and sexual slavery was able to ensure that the matter receives appropriate action from the law. We should appraise such brave members of our communities.
As the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, it is our mandate to provide and manage court facilities, facilitate the resolution of criminal and civil disputes as well as protect and promote the rights of the vulnerable groups such as children and women. As a department, we are responsible for supporting the judiciary in its administration of the magisterial courts, the specialised courts, the high courts, the supreme courts of appeal and the constitutional court. This is the broad area of concern by our department within which we locate the launch of the Electronic Funds Transfer Direct system here today.
Our justice system aims to guard against human rights abuses, assert legal rights, mediate differences among citizens, and prosecute offenders. Yet, owing to the history of South Africa’s racial discriminatory laws, we have our own distinct shortcomings and challenges that persist to this day. To address these, as a Department we collaborate with other government departments in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster to transform and integrate the country’s justice system.
This is more relevant with regards to the interests and rights of children. This is because many of the remedial actions fall under the auspices of other departments. For instance, the constitutional right to a name and nationality is a competency of Home Affairs. The right to social security is a competency of social development.
The right to relevant custodial environment is a competency of Correctional Services. And the importance of investigating suspected cases of child abuse or neglect falls within the Department of Police. And the overall well being of children is a matter generally attended to by the Ministry in the Presidency responsible for amongst others the interests of children. This is why cooperation is important across all these departments. Our aim is to ensure a holistic approach in attending to the rights and interests of children as enshrined in the constitution and other relevant laws such as the Child Justice Act.
Even as the Justice system is being transformed to reflect the values enshrined in our Constitution, the country has to contend with the daunting economic and social challenges. But we remain committed to provide Transparent, Responsive and Accountable Justice for All. Children’s interests remain our priority as enjoined by the constitution, which is why poverty is never an excuse for any violation or neglect of children. It is why we are here today to enforce the law and provide for efficient systems with regards to the maintenance of children. If the parents are too poor to can afford basic proper environment for the wellbeing of the child, the State kicks in.
The constitution enjoins us as government to ensure that basic needs are met. However, we do not have unlimited resources, and the constitution makes a point about this. It is why we must all ensure that those who have the financial means to take care of their own children that they must do so. Then as government we can attend only to those deserving cases where the parents are unable to financially meet the basic needs of their children.
I am happy to report that good progress has been made since 1994, notably through the introduction of a democratic system, constitutional and legal provisions that promise people equal rights and provide protection against discrimination, and extended access to Justice Services. And in this we may include the rights and interests of children.
Of course, the transformation of the Justice System is far from complete. In some areas, constitutional and legal provisions have not been fully implemented.
In others, there has been a lack of sustained and effective focus. But we do believe that working together we can make far reaching progress where the rights and interests of children are concerned.
A functioning justice system constitutes an important foundation on which to build a just, fair and democratic society. One of the main objectives of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is to eradicate apartheid legacies by providing access to justice for all. It is why we launch this system here in Phillippi which has clearly suffered and continue to do so as a consequence of apartheid-engineered race-differential development. Amongst redress mechanisms in this regard includes building courts in townships and rural areas which were previously not catered for. The ultimate intention is to expand and improve the quality of justice services provided to the communities, including those of maintenance.
The significance of converting Branch Courts into Full Service Courts is the elimination of courts in black areas that only provided criminal law services and not other services such as civil claims; small claims courts; deceased estates, and of course also maintenance claims. As a result, court users had to travel far distances to receive these basic services.
As part of the Delivery Agreements that we signed as Ministers in the JCPS cluster with the President, we are guided in our work by Outcome 3, which enjoins the department to ensure that “All People in South Africa are and feel safe”. And surely this also includes the safety of children.
A large proportion of clients that interact with the department require maintenance services. Around 80% of third party funds managed by the department are maintenance funds held on behalf of children. Improvement of services in the maintenance area will therefore assist parents (mostly mothers) who struggle to obtain maintenance for their children. Many of these parents are employed full-time and find it difficult to attend to maintenance processes during working hours.
A project has been initiated to look at the maintenance value chain, identify opportunities to improve services and make an impact on the lives of children. These include expediting application procedures, application processing, payments and punitive measures for defaulting parents. In addition, during the MTSF period, the project will prioritise the following:
- Investigating the possibility of Saturday courts for maintenance and other matters related to family law
- Introducing mediation services in maintenance matters
- Facilitating skills training for maintenance line managers and front line staff on maintenance norms and standards (Service Etiquette) and the Maintenance Act, 1988
- Appointing and training additional maintenance investigators over a period of three years
- Facilitating the appointment of maintenance complaints managers to fast-track maintenance complaints received from the Presidential Hotline and other sources
- Launching an improved media and awareness campaign.
In order to improve service delivery to maintenance beneficiaries, the department introduced this project to pay maintenance money directly into beneficiaries’ bank accounts making use of the Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) Direct system. The system requires all Beneficiaries to register and open a low-cost bank account. Prior to this, all maintenance payments were paid to the beneficiaries in cash at the various courts.
These cash payouts at the courts had many challenges such as beneficiaries having to incur transport costs to the courts to collect their money, long waiting queues at the courts and some beneficiaries having to take day off from work to collect the money due to their children. Beneficiaries were bound to the court office for hours to collect their money and there was also the risk of robbery when leaving the courts.
The EFT payment process was previously centralised in Pretoria from where it was managed. The effect of payments being processed from Pretoria had many challenges such as the turnaround time for money to be available to maintenance beneficiaries’ taking in some instances up to 07 to 10 days. Due to the increasing number of complaints from Maintenance Beneficiaries against the delay in the payments effected, the Department decided to decentralise the EFT payments to be made at courts. This system is called EFT-Direct.
The expected outcome with implementation of the EFT- Direct system is that the challenges identified above will be mitigated and all beneficiaries registered will receive their maintenance money within 24 to 48 hours after payment instructions have been given by court officials to the bank.
A number of pilot sites have been completed amongst others, at the Magistrate’s Office, Worcester. This has ensured that beneficiaries at such courts now receive their money in their bank accounts within 24 to 48 hours! The department therefore decided to implement this system at 50 courts this year and Philippi is one of 6 courts identified for implementation in the Western Cape. The courts in the Western Cape that will receive EFT - Direct Services are: Philippi, Blue Downs, Bellville, Khayelitsha, Paarl and Oudtshoorn.
At the Philippi Magistrate’s Office, the EFT - Direct System, commenced on 12 August 2011 and of the 4000 active maintenance beneficiaries, 2000 have already registered on the EFT-Direct System. We encourage the remaining 2000 to register urgently to avoid long delays and the inconveniences of long queues. On 12 August 2011 the first 64 EFT- Direct payments were made. These 64 beneficiaries had their money available in their bank accounts on the 13 August 2011. Beneficiaries now have a choice, either to register and benefit from the efficiency of the EFT-Direct system, or utilise the manual system of queuing.
The launch of this Electronic Funds Transfer Direct Payment System is our effort at ensuring efficiency in this regard. Once the system is fully operational countrywide, all the problems of long queues will be something of the past. We must encourage all those whom we know in our neighbourhoods to register for this system. We have prepared a brief outline on the steps that must be taken to register for ease of reference. In brief, every client who wishes to register must have an account with a bank or the Post Office, preferably a low cost account. Secondly, a form from the court must be filled in and submitted with a copy of an ID for registration at the court and the process is complete.
This electronic system is in line with our broad Information, communication and technology development. We are rated in the top ten in the world with regards to the sophistication of our banking sector systems, yet we have not taken full advantage to benefit those who up to now have had to stand in long queues to enforce maintenance.
We must dispel notions or rumours that suggest the registration is meant to achieve other goals other than those of speedy payment of maintenance funds. Nothing is far from the truth. As a department, we are guided by the constitutional principle that the rights and interests of the child must be of paramount importance when dealing with matters of children. I therefore urge every deserving parent who wishes to enforce maintenance to approach the courts and register.
Our launch of this EFT-Direct system is part of our ongoing efforts at bolstering Operation Isondlo. We continue to make progress in enforcing defaulters to pay for the maintenance of their children. For an example, within a week of the launch of Operation Isondlo in the Western Cape in 2005, 150 maintenance defaulters handed themselves over to justice and police officials, and 120 defaulters against whom warrants of arrest were issued were arrested at roadblocks.
In addition, 308 beneficiaries were traced within 10 days and their unclaimed maintenance money was paid to them. In the 2010 Operation Isondlo campaign a total of 472 untraced maintenance beneficiaries with a total of R 404 646, 79 owing to them was identified and in 16 days the campaign managed to trace at least 210 of the 472 untraced beneficiaries. A total of 336 alleged untraced defaulters were identified owing a total amount of R2 557 052, 51. Of the 336 alleged untraced defaulters, a total of 20 defaulters were arrested and appeared in courts.
These efforts indeed contributed to alleviating poverty and holding parents accountable to their children. The Courts managed to trace 34 untraced alleged defaulters from January 2011 to 29 June 2011. As at 30 June 2011, there are a total of 290 Alleged untraced defaulters owing a total amount of R2 mil.
In order to implement the project activities, lists of untraced maintenance beneficiaries and alleged untraced defaulters, as defined, will be requested from the following 26 magistrates courts in the Western Cape: Athlone, Atlantis, Beaufort West, Bishop Lavis, Blue Downs, Bellville, Bredasdorp, Caledon, Ceres, Goodwood, George, Khayelithsha, Philippi, Wynberg, Mitchells Plain, Cape Town, Strand, Vredendal, Vredenberg, Worcester, Paarl, Stellendbosch, Swellendam, Thembalethu, Oudsthoorn and Knysna.
Various activities will be undertaken to locate the untraced maintenance beneficiaries. For example, their full names will be published once-off in various newspapers. These adverts will call on the beneficiary to contact the relevant court manager or to report at the relevant magistrate’s office to collect maintenance money due to them.
We will also request our maintenance investigators to undertake daily door-to-door traces within communities and once they located a beneficiary, the beneficiary will be informed on where to go to collect their money. In addition, the community development workers will also be asked to assist.
As I conclude, allow me to commend our regional office here in the Western Cape, for the passion in driving this national programme around issues of maintenance. These efforts will surely help meet the basic needs of our people in general and in particular those of our beloved children who are the future of our nation.
We will continue to unroll this programme all over the country. I hope this gives a clear message to those who neglect their children that the long arm of the law will get them, wherever they are!
I thank you!
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
