Randburg Court
10 March 2006
The Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development, Mrs B Mabandla,
visited the Randburg Magistratesâ Court unannounced on 10 March 2006. The visit
comes after the resolutions emanating out of the meeting the Minister had with
the Johannesburg Attorneys Association on 24 February 2005. The resolutions
included a visit to the court followed by a half day workshop to discuss
possible strategies to address challenges identified in the meeting.
The latter meeting focused amongst others on exploring ways in which the
Association can contribute to the Department in order to tackle especially
civil case backlogs in the courts, including the consideration of case
scheduling through technology means. It also focused on how the Association
could participate in programmes through which unemployed law graduates can be
engaged on legal internship/learnerships to gain practical experience and
enhance their opportunity for employability within the legal sector.
Several concerns were however raised by the Association relating to the
civil court sections at the Randburg and Johannesburg Magistrateâs Courts as
well as the High Court in Johannesburg overall. These concerns included amongst
others:
Inadequate administrative capacity
* delayed default judgments
* poor transcription services
* collapse of the Small Claims Court
* poor maintenance of the building.
The visit to the Randburg Magistrateâs Court will enable the Minister and
the Department to have personal experience of the challenges raised by the
Association in relation to the identified courts and to formulate appropriate
strategies to address the challenges, in collaboration with the Attorneys
Association. The concerns for this court that were raised are as follow:
1) Facilities Management/Accommodation:
Civil section â air-conditioning not working (one section of the prosecutors
also not yet provided with air-conditioning); Ceilings in some places required
attention: Randburgâs new building was constructed in a residential area on a
site next to the Randburg police station at a cost of R53 million and occupied
during March 2005. As the current site was the only one available,
investigations are conducted for the possibility of nearby state owned land
available which could possibly be used by the municipality for the
establishment of a taxi rank. Some air-conditioners were leaking and damaged
the ceilings. The units have been fixed in February 2006. The prosecutor
section will be provided with loose split units.
Inadequate Library: A needs analysis was requested from the court in order
to provide more space and more publications will be provided once this is
provided. Cabling for IT has being done and electronic Jutastats are available.
Annotations of current publications have been scheduled to be updated by the
end of this month.
Inadequate furniture: Funds have been made available for more furniture and
the purchasing thereof are receiving attention.
Lack of filing space â files in the passages: Additional shelving for
records is being urgently investigated and the possibility of opening up an
existing basement area is being considered. We are also investigating if some
records can not be destroyed in accordance with existing disposal instructions.
National Archives have a lack of accommodation at present for all our old files
and this is also receiving attention.
Inadequate signage to guide court users: Planning for the signage was done
in consultation with the office staff and the installation thereof is currently
receiving attention in consultation with the architect.
No provision for a cafeteria: The omission of the cafeteria is mainly due to
the fact that in the past only tearooms were planned to serve the needs of the
staff and such have been made available. The need for cafeteria was never an
issue whilst the magistrate office was situated in its old location due to the
fact that there were shops and cafes nearby. A temporary caterer was brought in
whilst we are in the process of making a permanent cafeteria arrangement.
Landscaping: The recent heavy rains washed away the plants and grass on the
big embankment at the back of the building. We have requested the architect to
assist with quotations for proper landscaping on the embankment.
Other facility issues: Two CCTV cameras were struck by lightning and
replacement cameras were ordered. It is expected that they should be in place
in the next month. The South African Police Service (SAPS) have requested
additional cell doors in the passages in the basement which was installed. The
SAPS requested another two cell doors which have been ordered and will be
installed in the next weeks.
2) Inadequate Human Resource Capacity, especially in the civil section
Vacancies are on the approved establishment and are being filled. Temporary
persons are in the vacancies at present. It is clear, however, that the current
establishment at this court, like all the other courts nationally, has not kept
tread with the growth in work â especially regarding the civil side (many
banks/ businesses operate from Randburg and Johannesburg and this has a huge
impact on the civil workload). In this regard it is envisaged that the Re aga
Boswa roll out to Gauteng and the other provinces will provide the opportunity
to right size most offices. Court Services will prioritise Randburg.
3) Civil Case Flow Management (delays in default judgments and delayed
scheduling of civil cases / trial dates)
Case Flow Management guidelines have been developed inter-sectorally and are
in the process of being distributed and implemented country-wide. This will
assist in dealing with some of the case flow management issues. However our ISM
Branch has indicated that an electronic scanning solution for the civil courts
is already receiving attention. Delays regarding civil matters are also due to
lack of enough suitably trained staff and this is receiving attention. One of
the medium to long term solutions is the provision of legally qualified clerks/
registrars of the courts to manage legal and quasi judicial functions for the
lower courts. We have requested Justice College to assist in the interim with
further training of the existing clerks.
4) Transcription Services are poor:
The current delivery of transcription services have been problematic
resulting in the Department issuing a tender for new transcription services
countrywide. A panel is currently doing evaluations of the tenders received and
it was finalised. The Departmental Bid Committee will be considering the
evaluations early next week whereafter recommendations will be made to the
Director-General for new services. The Department intends moving towards a
digital system to be mainstreamed nationally. This will solve many of our
current problems with the analogue system currently in use.
The Attorney Association indicated that the criminal side was functioning
fine. This spells out the beginning of a unique working relationship between
the Department and the legal sector, in order to better the delivery of justice
to all South Africans.
Enquiries:
Leslie Mashokwe
Cell: 083 278 8018
Issued by: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
10 March 2006
