Development, honourable Advocate Johnny de Lange, Budget Vote debate in the
National Council of Provinces
2 June 2006
Chairperson,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable members and delegates,
Comrades and friends,
Ladies and gentlemen,
I want to take this opportunity to apologise for the absence of the
Minister, Ms Brigitte Mabandla, who through other commitments could not deliver
this speech today.
Honourable members,
This policy debate takes place against the background of several milestones
in our young democracy. One of these milestones is the celebration of the 10th
anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution. On the occasion of the
celebration of this anniversary President Thabo Mbeki addressing a joint
sitting of Parliament, noted that:
âThe 10th anniversary of the adoption of our Constitution also provides an
opportunity for the nation to assess the progress we have made and the problems
we have experienced, as we worked to build the society and consolidate the
democracy visualised in our Constitution.
The milestone we celebrate today should also serve to reinvigorate the
transformation of the unity and solidarity we built during the course of our
struggle for freedom, into a durable partnership for reconstruction and
development and the building of a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and
prosperous South Africa."
As we look back over the last 10 years of our constitutional democracy, we
are encouraged and guided by former Indian President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan
who observed that the past may become either an opportunity or an obstacle.
Everything depends on what we make of it and not what it makes of us.
Honourable members, we are exhorted by our recent past to continue with the
transformation policies and programmes that we actuated in 1994.
Chairperson,
All the activities of the Department of Justice and Constitutional
Development, in pursuit of the vision of our society encapsulated in our
Constitution are underpinned by the following strategic goals:
* access to justice for all,
* transforming justice in line with the democratic values of our national
Constitution,
* enhancing organisational efficiency.
In order to help us meet these strategic goals, the Departmentâs Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) baseline allocation grows from R7,312,545 billion
in 2006/07 to R8,067,817 billion in 2007/08, (an increase of 10,33 percent) and
to R8 870 991 billion in 2008/09 (an increase of 9,96 percent). The 2006 MTEF
allocations include new allocations of R350 million for 2006/07, R550 million
for 2007/08 and R900 million for 2008/09.
Enhancing capacity access to justice and transformation
Honourable members, we are aware that our Department is a national
Department without any provincial level of governance yet we have indirect
administration in all parts of the country in the form of courts, master's
offices, state attorneys, legal aid board offices. This situation presents the
Department with a challenge to organise itself in a manner that the
interconnection between the head office and the regional offices should be a
seamless one that still delivers on the departmental mandate at a decentralised
level, without duplicating key resources. This requires a balanced and sensible
yet flexible horizontal and vertical distribution of functions between the
centre and the decentralised workstations without compromising overall
managerial and financial coherency and accountability.
As a Department we have taken a conscious decision to revive and strengthen
our regional level of administration. These structures are meant to be our
point of entry into provinces. Through an organisational design process we have
therefore adapted the delegations to all regional heads to provide them with
authority and new functions in the regions.
To this end we have recreated positions of regional heads who will manage
and give leadership to our provincial teams and are expected to playa pivotal
role in the provincial justice clusters activities. The ideal management
echelon of the Department is underpinned by our philosophy that effective
service delivery at operational level requires deliberate effort to
decentralise authority and build strong management teams and structures at the
provincial level.
Out commitment to effective four regional offices is a borne out by an
inverse in allocations for the provinces:
* KwaZulu-Natal's allocation has increased by 31 percent to R265 million for
the 2006/07 financial year;
* Eastern Cape's has increased by 23 percent to R82 million;
* Gauteng by 32 percent to R31 million;
* Mpumalanga by 38 percent to R98 million;
* Limpopo by 26 percent to R16 million;
* Western Cape by 34 percent to R64 million;
* Free State by 26 percent to R1136 million;
* Northern Cape by 61 percent to R61 million;
* North West by 41 percent to R21 million
Honourable members,
You will recall that during last year's policy debate in this House,
Minister Mabandla stated that; âwe are continuously looking at the provision of
adequate infrastructure, especially in areas where there was none before. The
issue of the equitable distribution of court infrastructure is at the core of
our constitutional mandate. Perhaps the essence of it is well captured in a
speech by the former, late Chief Jusrce, Ismael Maharaj at the University of
Cape Town in 1999. He asked: "Can we effectively and meaningfully build a new
and united nation, when the condition of one part bf that nation is as a result
of this legacy, manifestly and illegitimately different to the condition of the
other part of what must constitutionally, inspirational and politically be the
same nation?"
It is a fact that in many townships and rural areas, court facilities are
often inadequate and sometimes dilapidated or even non-existent. People in
these areas often have to travel long distances just to get access to basic
justice.
Chairperson,
Enhancing capacity also entails the development of the country's human
resources without which the aspirations of the people will be frustrated. Human
resource development is a central pillar of our Constitution and it encompasses
a poo1ing of the country's resources to develop the educational and skills base
of our people.
The Department takes the training and development of our staff very
seriously. We believe that such training is integral in our efforts to widen
and improve access to justice for all. It is for this reason that we have
initiated processes to transform our training institution, the Justice College.
The transformation process is underway and includes looking at governance
structures, processes and systems and revamping the curriculum. In its existing
format the college does not serve the training and development needs of all its
main stakeholders. It has therefore become necessary to transform the college
to comply with these changes and to serve the training needs of the entire
Department.
Through a transformed Justice College training will be extended to all
professional and officials of the Department including state attorneys,
masters, family advocates, registrars, court managers and interpreters.
Appropriate capacity is being developed to deliver on the extended mandate.
The training of the Department's interpreters is also high on our agenda. To
enhance their service delivery, the college continues to present courses
focusing on difficult concepts. We have also embarked on management training
courses for senior interpreters to facilitate and develop their leadership
skills.
It is for this reason that we have made a conscious decision to deliberately
shift capital works resources in favour of previously disadvantaged as well as
rural areas. In the previous financial year, a total budget of R208 million was
spent on the construction of new facilities and additions to existing ones. The
following are some of the new buildings that are being planned in previously
disadvantaged areas and rural areas and their expected completion dates are in
the current financial year:
* Daveyton, Tsakane (both Gauteng),
* Motherwell (Eastern Cape),
* Sekgosese (Limpopo),
* Madadeni (KwaZulu-Natal).
We are also planning to build another seven courts in these previously
disadvantaged and rural areas and will soon be inviting tenders. These areas
are:
* Colesberg, Galeshewe, Augrabies (all Northern Cape),
* Thabong (Free State),
* Mitchell's Plain (Western Cape),
* Ekangala (Mpumalanga),
* Kagiso (Gauteng).
Honourable members, we will recall that in 2005 we outlined the Re Age Boswa
project which had just completed a pilot in KwaZulu-Natal. The refined version
of Re Aga Boswa which seeks to affirm the principle of separation of powers as
enshrined in the Constitution will ensure that magistrates and judges who are
also heads of courts are further relieved of administrative functions to
concentrate on their judicial work. We firmly believe that this will lead to
increased court productivity and the quality of judgements as senior judicial
officers can devote their time to judicial work. Through Re Aga Boswa, 58 Area
Court Managersâ and 217 Court Managers' positions have been created countrywide
and are currently being filled.
Part of the transformation of the Justice College will include the
introduction of eÂlearning. The introduction of e-learning will therefore
contribute to the strategic objectives of improved access to training
interventions. This method will increase the number of learners as they will
not have to travel to a central place for example, Pretoria to attend a course.
It happens at the workplace on their desks wherever they are. This would cut
the costs of travelling, accommodation and allowances and continuously and
incrementally broaden our skills base. The framework and costing for this
system is being finalised.
Honourable members,
On the other hand, as the training of judicial officers is the preserve of
the judiciary itself a joint task team comprising officials of the Department
and the office of the Chief Justice is currently working on a framework for
judicial education for judicial officers. We are confident that a proposed
framework with its cost implication will be completed this year to enable the
Minister to engage Cabinet and National Treasury on the matter. Training of
Magistrates at Justice College will be phased out as the intended institution
commences training.
Honourable members,
During last yearâs budget vote debate in this House, Minister Mabandla
indicated that: âBecause we are continuously seeking to expand the frontiers in
creating a better life for all South Africans that we as the Justice, Crime
Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster will conduct a comprehensive cluster
review of the entire Criminal Justice System process.â
I am pleased to report that Cabinet has endorsed the review process. The
challenge is now to concretise and implement it.
This programme that seeks to strengthen and roll out Small Claims Courts to
rural and peri-urban areas. The strategic objectives of the programme
include:
* providing access for all, in particular the poor and vulnerable,
* establishing systems and rules of court that are accessible and easy to
understand,
* providing trained administrative support staff,
* attracting and retaining commissioners.
We envisage that the roll out of the programme will commence within the next
month or two.
Sheriffs' profession
Chairperson,
Turning to the Sheriffs profession, there are a number of challenges that
still face the profession in terms of the transformation process. Most of these
challenges relate to the race and gender profile of the profession. As of 31
December 2005 more than almost 68 percent of the sheriffs were white and only
eight percent were female. The Department is working jointly with the Board of
Sheriffs to conduct a comprehensive audit of the profession. This audit will
enable us to consider the implementation of some of the transformation
programmes such as the competition policy as was introduced through an
amendment to the Sheriffs Act. I am informed that the audit will be completed
in the near future. Furthermore, R20 million has been allocated in the budget
to the transformation of the projects like the Sheriffs' profession.
Conclusion
To conclude, I wish to thank the Chairperson of the Select Committee, Kgoshi
Mokoena and committee members for playing an important role in exercising their
oversight functions in an energetic and focused manner.
The objectives of the review are to:
1. To identify areas for improvement including business, representivity and
modernisation issues.
2. To provide composite set of recommendations for consideration to improve the
system.
3. To develop a framework to measure and track the performance of the system
including a data collection model across the system.
The review is led by a review team which in turn has engaged a research team
to investigate the root causes of blockages in the flow of the cases through
the system and design solutions to address the blockages. The teams
comprise
representatives from various Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS)
cluster departments and National Treasury, members of the judiciary, Legal Aid
Board, the South African Law Reform Commission, Statistics SA. A reference
group of imminent people who possess expertise in the field of criminal justice
will be convened regularly to contribute to the review process. The Minister is
politically responsible for the project, whilst the Director-General is
responsible for the overall co-ordination of the project and a dedicated
project manager is being recruited to manage the day to day activities of the
project.
It is my view that it is important for all committees in parliament within
the JCPS cluster to discuss their attitude towards and role within this review
process.
Honourable members,
Small Claims Courts
As part of our wider programme to enhance access to quality, affordable,
prompt, efficient and effective justice we will continue to strengthen the
Small Claims Courts. The Small Claims Courts constitute an inexpensive tool
that was created to settle minor civil disputes in an informal manner. In this
financial year the Department has budgeted R3,1 million for the Small Claims
Courts. The Swiss Agency for Development has committed R4.5 million over three
years, to a Chairperson, honourable members, I urge this House to whole
heartedly and unequivocally support the budget of the Department of Justice and
Constitutional Development for this financial year.
I thank you!
Issued by: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
2 June 2006
