Director-General of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ), Ms Nonkululeko Sindane
KZN Judge President, Hon Justice Patel
KZN Provincial Treasury MEC Ina Cronje
KZN DOJ and CD Regional Head, Ms Brigitte Shabalala
Chief Master, Adv Lester Basson
UMgungundlovu Mayoral Representative
KZN DDG for Institutional Development, Ms Primrose Khumalo
Legal Aid South Africa KZN Regional Office Executive Mr V. Mdaka
KZN Head State Attorney, Mr Krish Govender
Ladies and Gentlemen.
Allow me to express our gratitude as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, for the successful hosting of this occasion, to mark yet another deliverable in our work to ensure access to justice by all our people.
As the DG has alluded, we are here today as a follow up to our visit which took place last year November, which was organised as part of the Public Participation Programme. During that occasion, we visited the Master of the High Court here in Pietermaritzburg, to engage with community members with regard to the services rendered at the office and assess service delivery challenges. That visit revealed some service delivery challenges related to customer service, infrastructure, and turnaround times in the finalisation of matters as well as on fraud and corruption.
Today we are here again, so we can fulfil the commitment twe made to the community of Pietermaritzburg towards attending to the challenges that were revealed during our last visit. Today is therefore our opportunity to showcase to the public the various measures that have been undertaken to effectively deal with those challenges identified at the Pietermaritzburg Master of the High Court.
These measures include the refurbishment of the Masters offices, which is fitted with all the necessary equipment to ensure efficient service delivery. In addition, these measures include the introduction of the new technological system, mainstreaming the list of insolvency practitioners and liquidators, and fraud and corruption.
Previously, the Pietermaritzburg Masters Office used to operate in two separate buildings, which often led to delays in the administration of matters brought before the Court and led to confusion among members of the public.
The new Pietermaritzburg Master’s offices will accommodate all the services rendered by the Master of the High Court, making it easier for the public to register their matters and receive attention speedily. The building has the capacity to provide office space for a staff complement of 160, thereby allowing for more people to be deployed for assistance at these critical areas of service delivery.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Our work in delivering on the promise for a just society is progressively realising our targets over time. Year after year, we continue to roll-back the frontiers of the old apartheid order, and usher in a dispensation consistent with the values enshrined in our Constitution. Allow me to remind you of what we said last year during our Budget Vote in Parliament with regards to our commitment on the challenges around the Master’s Office and its role in dispensing its mandates. We said: (and I quote)
“We will also embark on regular unannounced in loco inspection of service delivery points……... In this approach we are driven by our credo “Justice For All”, because we realise the relevance to our circumstances of the view of the 75th Anniversary celebration of the Legal Aid Society of New York on 16th February 1951.
In this regard, we made reference to the quote which I here repeat:
“It is the daily; it is the small; it is the cumulative injuries of little people that we are here to protect… if we are able to keep our democracy, there must be one commandment: Thou shall not ration justice."
This is in line with the universal acclamation, coined in the adage that justice, like all other noble virtues promoting the values of a humane world, is indivisible.
Ladies and Gentlemen, in that Budget Vote we also said, and I quote:
“The Office of the Master remains one of our key service delivery programmes as it impacts on the vulnerable members of society. We are providing appropriate skills to the staff in the Masters’ offices to improve turnaround times. On the Guardian’s Fund we aim to ensure that 80% of the beneficiaries receive their entitlements within 40 days of submitting their applications. We will improve our ability to deal with the long and time-consuming queues for maintenance services at our courts. We are increasing capacity at the courts to reduce the waiting periods.”
One of the challenges facing the Master’s Office throughout the country is borne out of the consequence and therefore temptation of handling large sums of money. Due to this fact, some of the employees who handle such large amounts of money often believe they can help themselves to it without being detected. Fraud and corruption therefore remain some of the key aspects confronting the Master’s Office.
As a Department, we have put up appropriate measures designed to combat these twin scourges. What makes fraud and corruption even more alarming in such instances, is that criminals actually steal from the poor. This must never be understood to mean that stealing from the rich is more justifiable. What this must be understood to mean is that the poor suffer even more as a consequence of fraud and corruption.
It is for this reason that we have identified the services rendered by the Master of the High Court a priority matter as they have a greater impact on the lives of the people, especially the poor and vulnerable groups. Our department recognises that delays in processing claims for Guardian’s Fund, administration of deceased and insolvent estates, all these perpetuate the social constrains which have a dire effect on vulnerable and the poor. We are committed to improving the turnaround time and ensure that the rightful beneficiaries are assisted and expediently.
We have, as a department, adopted a zero tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and have strengthened our internal control systems to ensure that there is no space for criminal activities. Amongst the initiatives we have undertaken are the following measures:
- In working with the Department of Home Affairs, we were able to install the Master’s Own Verification Identity Technology, a system which uses finger prints to verify the authenticity of the beneficiaries.
- We insist on accountability and ensure that the reconciliation of Third Part Funds is done on a daily basis to avoid miscalculations and corruption.
- The department is currently encouraging beneficiaries to collect their cheques at the offices instead of depositing directly to their bank accounts. This minimises the chances of officials opening fraudulent accounts in which the money is deposited.
- We are working closely with relevant law enforcement agencies to ensure that all those who commit fraud and corruption are prosecuted accordingly, not only to recoup the stolen monies, but also to set example to all aspirant fraudsters.
One of the challenges of the public sector everywhere in the world is that of efficiency. The reasons this is more of a problem in the public sector as opposed to the private sector are simple and well known. While the private sector is driven by the profit motive and therefore every inefficiency including labour is quickly discarded as a loss, in contrast, the public sector is driven by the desire to serve.
In the public sector, output is measured by targets that are often to compare and contrast objectively against an optimal scale, due to the fact that they depend on the utility of the public purse which is wrongly seen as without limits. However, as a department, we are constantly upgrading our systems to enhance efficiency and improve the turn-around time at the Masters’ Offices.
The department has consequently introduced the Integrated Case Management (ICM) system as part of the broader modernisation of all service points in South Africa, to ensure accessibility and acceleration of service delivery. Also, a policy on the appointment of liquidators is being developed to effectively manage the administration of insolvent estates.
As a department, we continue to upgrade our infrastructure in order to improve capacity at all our service points. This is why we ensured that the new Pietermaritzburg Master’s offices must accommodate all the services rendered by the Master of the High Court, making it easier for the public to register their matters and receive attention speedily. We are confident that out one stop shop approach will yield immense benefits for our people.
As part of ensuring prudent use of public funds through good governance in the administration of the Master’s Offices, we have put up financial management systems at the Masters Offices, with a view to achieve a clean audit in the 2012/13 financial year.
I undertake that we will continue to strive to achieve the highest levels of service delivery which is responsive to the needs of the people of Pietermaritzburg, as it must and will be for all other areas throughout our country. In this we will be guided by a Service Charter which is our Department’s statement of commitment to deliver quality services to all our people. Even though we do not exist to make profit, however, the principles of efficiency and effectiveness in the administration of the Master’s Offices must be achieved without fail. We must serve our people with the trust, expediency and dignity that they deserve.
We are therefore here today, to mark this important occasion, so that those who will be working in these facilities should never second-guess our original intention of these premises and what framework and work ethics within which the services to be rendered here must be discharged. In as much as employees have a right to a job, equally our people have a right to good, reliable and expedient service as underpinned by the Government Bantu Pele principles.
I therefore ask all employees to familiarise themselves with these universal government principles of Batho Pele, or People First, because these principles explain how each and every employee must serve our people. If we fail as employees to observe these Batho Pele principles, in so doing, we have compromised the values enshrined in our constitution.
In this endeavour, the department is currently conducting service delivery improvement training for front-line staff at Pietermaritzburg through the Justice College, with specific focus on the ground-level interaction and activities. Similar kind of training is being conducted in the 402 Masters Service points countrywide. A Service Charter, which outlines service delivery standards, has been adopted to build a culture of service which is responsive to the needs of the people.
As I conclude, allow me to urge the people of Pietermaritzburg and the surroundings, to also familiarise themselves with the inner workings of the Master’s Office.
Today you may not as an individual need the services rendered here, but at some point or another into the future you will most likely need these services. Alternatively, your beneficiaries will need these services after your ultimate departure. Furthermore, with information on the inner workings of the Masters Office, you may also help inform other members of the community on how to receive relevant assistance from these offices. I know that the media is here today.
I hope in your own reporting as the media, you will join us to propagate the workings of the Masters Office, as you would ordinarily couch it yourselves to be in the public interest. Unless the avenues to help our people are made known, justice would remain delayed and consequently denied our people.
Ladies and gentlemen, allow me once more to thank you profoundly for demonstrating your commitment to access to justice by being here today and celebrating this magnificent official opening with us.
I thank you!
