Programme Director,
Hon Mr Justice Zondo representing the Chief Justice,
Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Andries Nel,
MEC for Community Safety Ms Faith Mazibuko,
The Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Ms Nonkululeko Sindane,
Distinguished members of the Judiciary,
Member of the Mayoral Committee on Community Safety, Councilor Mthuthuzeli Siboza,
Ms Y Sooka, Executive Director for the Foundation for Human Rights and Member of the South African Judicial Education Institute,
Councillors present,
Members of the media,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It is with a great sense of honour and privilege that I stand here before you today on the occasion of the unveiling of our new court here in Tsakane in the metro of Ekurhuleni. I am pleased also to note that offices representative of the various three arms of the State, the Executive, the Judiciary and the Legislature, as well as other stakeholders are all present here today with us as we witness again one of our success stories in our endeavour to ensure Access to Justice for all our people.
Since 1960 the community of Tsakane has been serviced by Brakpan Magistrates Court which is over 17 Km away. The community of Tsakane was forcefully removed from the old Brakpan location to this place and part of the consequent underdevelopment has since then been characterised by the lack of such essential services such as accessible courts which was part of the legacy of apartheid socio-economic engineering.
Currently Tsakane has a population of approximately 277 000 with a radius of 7km and the majority of the people are low income earners and unemployed. Building a Court in this area was therefore very much justified as this will help ensure access to justice as the courts are brought even much closer to the people.
This endeavour is informed by our quest aimed at correcting the legacy of apartheid that deliberately refused accessible services to the predominantly black areas in our country. This is part of what we mean by the need to ensure the transformation of the justice system of our country. This court will support the community in dealing with perpetrators of violent crimes.
This will help bring family law services closer to the community. By so doing, this will also bring parity between the people of Tsakane and the rest of the country in commonly appreciating the essence of the rights entailed in our Constitution as opposed to the designs of the apartheid regime whose aim was the underdevelopment of the black majority.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We have converged here today in Tsakane to open this new court which is part of our flagship programme of opening the frontiers of justice, by expanding our court infrastructure in our quest to take justice to the people. Like many of the courts we have launched to date, this magnificent architecture and layout of immaculate design, bears testament of the fruits of the 100 years of selfless struggle for freedom and justice.
It is therefore not a coincidence that the opening of this court occurs after the President has announced a further R1 billion towards the construction of court infrastructure in various parts of the country. This is an affirmation of the ANC-led government’s commitment to access to justice which is one of the fundamental values that underlie our constitutional democracy which is further espoused in the National Development Plan which is a blue print leading government plan to the year 2030.
The opening of this court, the construction of which totalled close to R11 million (R10 988 743.22 million), constitutes part of the Department’s Infrastructure Programme which signifies our contribution to the elaborate infrastructure programme. Other major constructions which we will launch soon include the Katlehong Magistrate’s Court whose construction has already been completed.
I wish to thank the Department of Public Works whose project management support and engineering skills ensured the highest quality of workmanship throughout the project which ran beyond the envisaged time due to problems with the construction company.
The department will always strive to ensure that no matter what challenges, services are brought closer to the people as we are witnessing here today to ensure that government’s commitment to restoring the peoples’ human dignity and self-worth.
This infrastructure here has 4 court rooms which will be used for criminal matters, civil matters, equality matters, family law and regional court. There are also 4 offices for prosecutors, 4 offices for magistrates, 1 cash hall, 1 domestic violence office, 1 civil clerk office, 1 maintenance office, 1 office for the Legal Aid South Africa, 1 court for manager’s office, and 3 holding cells.
This is it to ensure the people are properly served, hence amongst others we prioritised the inclusion of Legal Aid South Africa. This is because many using these facilities will need the help of Legal Aid, those being people who cannot afford legal representation on their own.
Currently the court is operating as a branch court of Brakpan but it will as from the 1st of April 2013 render full services including the Regional Court services. This court will deal with over 50 % of matters which were held in Brakpan. This means that now services will be rendered at your doorstep!
This also means the work load and congestion at the Brakpan Court will be halved and that the workload in this new Court will equally not be as congested as the Brakpan Court was before we built this new court. So it is a win-win situation for both those utilising either the Brakpan Court or this new Court that we are launching here today in Tsakane.
Programme Director, ladies and gentlemen,
Today you will also witness the ceremonial signing of contracts with civil society organisations which are guarantees of the Access to Justice and are promoters of our Constitutional Rights programme.
The Foundation for Human Rights is present here today to take part in this event which symbolically is to cement our commitment to issues of human rights in capacitating our initiatives aimed at addressing the advancement of women’s rights on land ownership and tenure, human rights awareness on education and housing and general capacity building for civil society organisations in rural areas. An amount of R6.8 million will be made available to civil society organisations for that purpose.
Distinguished guests,
The launch of this court occurs during an important time in our annual calendar when we recognise the Human Rights Month and the International Women’s Day and acknowledge the role and sacrifices of women who have played significant part in our society. We stand here today calling on all people to fight crimes perpetrated against women and children in our society.
The scourge of shocking violent crime in our society needs a concerted effort between the JCPS cluster, Community Based Organisations’s, NGO’s and society at large. We cannot allow cases such as those of Anene Booysen in Bredarsdorp where women of all ages continue to suffer the savagery of criminal and brutal human rights violations. Launching this court is part of our resolve at defeating this social scourge the soonest!
For this reason and as per our observation during the opening of the Palm Ridge Court in August 2012, the cluster is taking a harsh and uncompromising stand against the heinous crime of rape and violence against women and children.
The MATTSO task team has recommended that I resuscitate the Sexual Offences Courts which in the past have shown high conviction rates compared to the ordinary Regional Courts. Sites have been identified where these courts will be launched including here in Gauteng where such matters will be heard.
Courts such as that of Palm Ridge have been identified to host such specialised sexual offences cases with minor adaptation in line with international standards to provide a victim-friendly environment and CCTV testifying rooms. This is because as government we take as serious human rights violation the rape of women and children hence the priority need for Sexual Offences Courts to be re-opened.
And of course we are still reeling with shock at the video clips showing a Mozambican national being dragged behind a police vehicle, leading to his death due to trauma and injuries sustained. It shows that all of us must join hands to ensuring that justice prevails, irrespective of who is the perpetrator.
And as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development we make clarion call on all those serving the ends of justice to desist from criminal acts as that does not help inspire confidence in the criminal justice system of our country.
As government, we will take decisive action against any violator of our laws and we call on all people of Tsakane and all other areas to ensure that we help bring the perpetrators to book so that justice is what the courts alone dispenses on all criminal and civil matters.
We call upon men and women, the youth, all and sundry, to ensure that the struggle for justice against the perpetrators of violence and abuse against women and children is not limited to the time it is highlighted such as during the 16 days of activism against violence on women and children but rather that it becomes all year round.
These important days in our calendar in the main provide opportunity for all of us, including Government, to take stock of the strides we have made since the advent of democracy in advancing the rights of women and children. However our work as the community must not be limited to those specific dates.
As the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, we are continuously and steadfastly monitoring the implementation of policies and our resolve to end criminal activities, hence now and again we will decisively intervene to expedite the attainment of justice and the launch of this Court is one of such actions.
It is in this context that I will briefly highlight this gathering some of the strides of the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster and of the department which are geared at redressing the legacy of inequality and under-development which affect women and children the most.
Our unwavering resolve in the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster of ensuring that ‘All people in South Africa are and feel safe’ will become a reality when every woman and every girl child can walk every street and corner of this country without any fear of being raped and abused by men and other women.
I am confident that this court and all other courts country-wide, as well as the judiciary, the prosecution and all stakeholders, will be part of the solution to rid South Africa of the negative reputation on crime both here and abroad.
Programme Director,
As I conclude, allow me to invite the community of Tsakane and the surrounding areas to take advantage of the services rendered in this court and utilise them optimally. Most of the people to be serviced in this court are within walking distance to these premises and there is no need to spend exorbitant amounts in public transport to access justice.
Furthermore I invite you to join me in the public participation immediately after this function where I will engage with the community on issues pertaining to access to justice and human rights and any other related concerns that affect the community.
We do note that there are many challenges facing our people on various fronts, but it is also important to acknowledge that steadfast work is being done to correct the legacy of the past and improve the lives of all our people.
In the provision of shelter as per the dictates of our Constitution which spells it as a right, we have within the limits of available resources continued to make strides. The same could be said on electricity, education, health, water and other basic needs including the provision of social grants to the deserving needy.
As government, we have made strides in restoring the dignity for so long undermined by apartheid and we will continue to do so mindful of the outstanding challenges to which our distracters are quick to point out. Amongst the strides we continue to make is the repatriation of those who died in exile and the compensation of victims as specified by the TRC process that was part of our political transition into the new dispensation.
Our resolve as government is to ensure that indeed we play our part in ensuring that the Constitution becomes a lived document by all our people and believe other arms of the State, the Judiciary and the Legislature, will also accordingly play their role steadfastly bound by the dictates of our Constitution.
We will not tire until we ensure that “All people in South Africa are and feel safe!”
I thank you!
