Mr Chairperson,
Honourable Members;
Ladies and gentlemen;
It is with honour and privilege, that I present the Budget of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, for the 2011/12 financial year. The Minister could not be with us today as he had to attend to other pressing official engagements, and has accordingly conveyed his apologies and best wishes for the Budget Vote debate.
I wish to pay tribute to the African National Congress (ANC) stalwart and a fearless and dedicated freedom fighter, Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu, who passed on in the past week.
As we commemorate the 1976 Soweto uprising this month, it is also important that we remember the contribution of the youth and the role played by the young martyrs such as Tsietsi Mashinini and Solomon Mahlangu in the struggle for freedom. We salute them, knowing that their sacrifices were not in vain.
Honourable members and distinguished guests,
We are grateful to this House for its inspirational oversight role, through whose Select Committee on Security and Constitutional Development has enabled the department to re-focus its resources and re-define its performance targets to achieve greater impact on peoples’ lives in. This is reflective of our unequivocal commitment to promote and enhance Access to Justice as our basic guiding principle. Access to Justice remains our primary focus. It is for that reason that we have channelled the bulk of our budget, (70%) to service-delivery programmes to ensure that these services are within the reach of the communities, in particular those in the rural and under developed areas to provide equal justice for all, in particular the vulnerable and the poor.
The courts and the Masters’ offices are the department’s primary service delivery service points that consume the larger part the budget. The key programmes that drive our Access to Justice initiative is the Court Services Programme through which we accelerate the construction of new courts and the rehabilitation of existing courts in order to bring services closer to the communities. The on-going capital projects during the current Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) are the following:
- The expansion of the Superior Court of Appeal in Bloemfontein scheduled to be launched by the President later this year
- The upgrading of the Western Cape High Court which was launched only last week, on the eve of our budget debate in the National Assembly
- The completion of the three new magistrates courts in Galeshewe (Northern Cape) Colesburg, and Lutzville (Free State); and Ekangala (Mpumalanga)
Courts under construction are:
- Limpopo High Court (in Polokwane)
- Magistrates Courts in Katlehong (Gauteng) and Ntuzuma (KwaZulu-Natal)
The following courts will be expanded and rehabilitated:
- Stanger, Thembalethu and Richards Bay (KwaZulu-Natal); Mamelodi (Gauteng) Tshilwavhusiku (Limpopo) and Bredasdorp, Riversdale, Swellendam and Platenburg Bay (Western Cape).
Projects in the planning phase include the new High Court in Mpumalanga. Interim accommodation is being procured to house the High Court of Mpumalanga in Nelspruit pending the construction of a permanent court in the province.
Our infrastructure programme is informed by our long term vision, which is the outcome of the programme of the rationalisation of the areas of jurisdiction of the courts, of a “Lower Court for every Municipality or District Municipality” and having a “Division of the High Court for every province”. There are municipalities such as Bitou in the Western Cape which do not have a court and the community is compelled to commute to the adjacent municipality, in this case Knysna, to obtain justice services, including maintenance and deceased estates.
Closely linked with the Rationalisation of the Areas of Jurisdiction of the Lower Courts is the programme for the re-designation of branch courts as proper full services courts. Before August 2009, there were 90 branch courts, the largest number being in former Black township and rural areas. Fifteen of these branch courts, in different provinces have been rehabilitated and turned into proper self standing courts with effect from 15 August 2009.
The Minister has announced on Tuesday during the budget debate in the National Assembly that the branch courts of Attridgeville, Mamelodi (Gauteng), Northam (Limpopo) and Ntuzuma (KwaZulu-Natal) will be proclaimed into full services courts with effect from 1 August 2011. The legal implication of such proclamation is that these courts become self standing and provide all services, including civil and family law services to local communities. In terms of the law, Branch Courts only provide limited services relating to criminal trials.
Honourable members, we are indebted to this House and the National Assembly for their effort in accelerating the enactment of the Jurisdiction of Regional Court Act of 2008, and making it possible for the President to promulgate this important Act on 9 August 2010. The Act brought closure to the racially-conceived Black Divorce Courts.
Sixty-one regional courts across all provinces have been proclaimed to hear civil disputes, including divorce and family law disputes, and thereby brought the services closer the where litigants live. These proclaimed courts are predominately in former Black areas and rural villages.
The department is making sound progress in fulfilling its vision of establishing a Small Claims Court in all of the 384 magisterial districts. 26 new Small Claims Courts, mostly in rural areas, were established during the 2010/11 financial year bringing the total number of small claims courts to 224. In this regard, the department started the 2011/12 financial on a positive note and has already established Small Claims Courts in Cathcart (Eastern Cape) and Kenhardt (Northern Cape), with a further six small claims courts to be established before the end of June 2011, namely, in Nongoma (KwaZulu-Natal), Ingwavuma (KwaZulu-Natal), Roodepoort (Gauteng Province), Vrede (Frere State), Botshabelo (Frere State) and Swartruggens (North West).
The increase of the monetary jurisdiction from R7 000 to R12 000 will further enhance access to the courts, especially the poor. The department would like to extend its appreciation to the members of this House who are actively promoting the usage of small claims courts.
The last, but not least category of courts that are equally important to the both social transformation and access to justice are the Equality Courts. All Magistrate courts in the 384 magisterial districts have been declared Equality Courts, thereby widening access to these for the majority of our people living in these magisterial district. These courts dealt with a total of 320 cases and enquiries between 1 April and 30 September 2010. Of these, 100 have been disposed off. The majority of matters relate to hate speech and unfair discrimination.
Despite the interventions we made with regard to infrastructure programme and expansion of services, the biggest challenges facing the courts are case backlogs, caused mainly by the rate of our case finalisation. The postponement of cases and the limited sitting hours of the lower courts have been a major concerns for a considerable time. To counter the impact of the over burdened court rolls, Backlog courts were established and they have been operational since November 2006. Since their establishment these courts finalised 46 127 cases.
This number would have added to our court rolls if these additional Backlog Courts had not been established to function parallel to the ordinary courts. For the 2010/11 financial year, these Backlog Court, which now stands at 60 for the Regional Courts and 24 for the District Courts have dispose off 26 134 more case than the new cases registered in the year. This is for the first time that these courts attain this target and it will be important to maintain the high performance standard if the backlogs are to be eradicated any time soon.
A total of 962 317 new cases were enrolled and 988 451 cases disposed off. The Minister has also commended the initiative undertaken by officials in the Molopo district of the North West, who organised Saturday Courts which started to operate from the 7 May 2011. In this short period since then, 29 out of 32 matters have been disposed of. This team has now set itself a goal of disposing 50 matters a month from June 2011. I congratulate the team in the North West, and intend encouraging such initiatives throughout all provinces to ensure that case backlogs are significantly reduced.
Measures which are also undertaken as part of the Criminal Justice System to improve the courts’ productivity; in particular the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) committees established in provinces; in which Heads of Court participate, have become effective where they discuss the manner and ways in which effective caseflow management processes may be implemented to empower judicial officers to take charge of their courts. Other initiatives undertaken include the rolling out the Audio Video Remand (AVR) system for Awaiting Trial Detainees in all provinces. On Monday 6 June 2011, the Minister launched the Mitchells Plain’s AVR system.
The launching of these AVR initiatives was after noting that 80% of Awaiting Trial Detainees transported to courts are for the mere purpose of postponement. The chain duties of signing them out from correctional centres, their transportation to Courts and back to correctional centres, is not only time consuming and thereby delaying court hearings due to late arrivals, but also significantly take up much of the human resources which could optimally be used otherwise.
It is notable that although the Public Service Strike action in 2010 impacted negatively on the criminal justice system, the Lower and High Courts still managed to attain a positive clearance ratio of 2.7%. A total of 962 317 new cases were enrolled and 988 451 cases were disposed of. A total of 26 134 more cases were therefore disposed of than received.
The High and Lower Courts finalised 331 045 cases with a verdict, with a conviction rate of 88.7%, with an increase in the number of cases finalised by means of alternative dispute resolution methods (ADRM) by 9.5%, from 118 631 in 2009/10 to 129 846 in 2010/11. (ADRM includes diversions after enrolment, matters diverted in terms of the Child Justice Act (CJA) and informal mediations.)
The High and Lower Courts maintained high conviction rates. The District Courts maintained a 90.7% conviction rate. The Regional Courts achieved a rate of 73.4% and the High Courts achieved a conviction rate of 87.8%.
We are optimistic that the Access to Justice Conference convened by the Chief Justice from 7 to 11 July 2011, will come up with implementable solutions to these challenges.
Master’s Services and Maintenance are part of our priority areas. Cabinet has approved the filling of the post of the Chief Master. This forms part of our efforts to build capacity for the implementation of turnaround strategy of the Master’s offices to improve services relating to the winding up of deceased estates, the administration of insolvent estates and payments from the Guardian’s Fund. Similarly, we are increasing capacity at the courts to deal effectively with maintenance.
Honourable members, let me outline some of the key on-going transformation programmes. Members would be pleased that the long awaited Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Bill (the old Nineteenth Amendment Bill) and the Superior Courts Bill have, after somewhat 12 years in the melting pot, finally made their way into this Parliament. So will the Legal Practice Bill within the next few days.
In the main the Constitution Nineteenth Amendment Bill affirms the Constitutional Court as the Apex Court in the Republic and the Chief Justice as the head of the entire judiciary, which are the fundamental ingredients of a unified judiciary suited to our Constitution. On the other hand, the Superior Courts signal the demise of the Apartheid-drawn demarcation of the areas of jurisdiction of the old-order. High Courts were never rationalised when these courts were renamed in 2008 following an Act passed by this Parliament.
The outcome of the rationalisation process envisaged by this Bill will ultimately ensure that the High Courts are consistent with the provincial landscape of our Constitution and thereby respond to the needs of society in their demarcated spaces. The Bill makes it possible for the Limpopo and Mpumalanga provinces to have their own High Court, independent from the North Gauteng High Court.
Not only will this restore the dignity and self-worth of the communities who endure the hardships of commuting to courts outside their provinces to access the High Court and other services traditionally associated to the High Courts (such as services of the Master of the High Court), but also brings with it infrastructure development as well as job and career opportunities for local residents.
The Bill provides also a main seat and as many local seats as it is possible to enhance access to justice. The local seat may have its own area of jurisdiction where this will enhance access to justice. This is ideal for a province as vast as the Eastern Cape, which has four seats of the High Court, to serve a province that integrates what was the old RSA, Transkei and Ciskei territories.
The Legal Practice Bill which, similarly to the Superior Courts Bill, seeks to unify the legal profession and rationalise the different regulatory structures of the defunct Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei (TBVC) states, is premised on the constitutional principle of Access to Justice, in particular provides, among others on a mechanism for the determination of fees chargeable for obtaining legal services to ensure that costs of litigation are within reach of all litigants; and community legal service as part of legal vocational training for new entrants into the legal profession and regularised pro bono work for all legal practitioners.
The transformation of the State Legal Services forms an integral part of broader the transformation of the legal profession which is driven by constitutional imperatives. The transformation of this sector will assist government in addressing challenges of litigation which the courts have raised on numerous occasions, especially on matters where decisions have been given against government.
These include poor quality of representation of government due to lack of adequate preparation or choice of practitioners who lack expertise in the subject matter before court, delays or failure to file pleading and other related court papers, failure to implement or delayed implementation of civil judgments given against national or provincial government. The initiatives are geared to build sustainable internal capacity that is sustainable, and develop legal expertise that would enrich our jurisprudence.
Another important programme of the department is that of the sheriffs, who have an important role for making sure that documents between parties to a dispute are exchanged on time, and that orders of the courts are executed in accordance with the direction of the court and the law.
The transformation of this sector, which is mostly forgotten as they work behind the scene, is paramount. The department is initiating measures to strengthen the regulatory framework to address the transformation challenges relating to the appointment of sheriffs and their deputies and the service and execution of civil processes. One of the intended outcomes of Civil Justice Reform Project is the transformation of the service of court processes to provide for the use of technology for service of court processes to save time and costs, which are borne by the litigants, and thereby enhance efficiency.
Honourable members allow me to briefly reflect on the Traditional Courts Bill, which has been outstanding for a long time. The Minister will soon be engaging with this House with a view to facilitate the re-introduction of this Bill in this House in view of the legislative competence of provinces on subject matter of the Bill. The Bill has been withdrawn from the National Assembly.
A total budget of R13,518 billion has been allocated to the department for the 2011/12 financial year. Of this budget allocation, R4,342 billion is allocated to the Court Services programme, R2,640 billion is for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and R1,656 billion for Public Entities and Chapter 9 Institutions. Much of this increase has been set aside for improving the capacity at our courts, the improved implementation of legislation that addresses rights of the most vulnerable and providing court services, hence the large increases in the Court Services (35.7 per cent), State Legal Services (14.0 per cent) and National Prosecuting Authority (9.2 per cent) programmes over the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period.
A total amount of R2,85 billions of has been allocated for direct operational spending in regions with Gauteng receiving the highest portion at R523 million whilst the Northern Cape receives the lowest at R138 million. Regional budget allocations are being determined by the number of courts in operation and also the number of personnel appointed in a particular region. The following allocations over the MTEF period worthy of noting:
- Over the next 3 years the department will spent R2,5 billion on the construction of courts and other infrastructure projects. A further R87 million will be spend on day to day maintenance and R265 million on rehabilitation of court facilities over the next 3 years
- An amount of R225 million has been earmarked in 2011/12 for Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJCD), NPA and the Legal Aid Board for the reduction in criminal case backlogs in regional and district courts
- R86 million, R202 million and R214 million has been allocated over the next three years for the implementation of the Children Act, Child Justice act and Sexual Offences act.
- A total amount of R2,7 billion has been allocated in 2010/11 for regional operations to fund operations of lower and high courts
- In 2011/12 the department envisage to spend R1,9 billion on Public Prosecutions, R138 million on witness protection, R106 million on Asset Forfeiture, R194 million on the Special Investigating Unit and R1,1 billion on the Legal Aid Board
- In support for constitutional institution the department will transfer R89 million to the Human Rights Commission and R143 million to the Public Protector.
Let me reiterate the following allocations towards job creation which were mentioned by the Minister during the budget debate in the National Assembly:
- R45 million will be spent on the filling of 200 new positions at the courts to strengthen court administration
- R29 million for 90 new positions to strengthen Supply Chain and Third Party Fund Management
- R13 million to appoint 65 additional Maintenance Investigators
- R23 million for the appointment of 130 Intermediaries
- R17,4 million for children’s court clerks
- R12 million for 111 new posts of child justice courts clerks
- R40 million for Legal Aid South Africa candidate attorneys.
We take cognisance of the fact that the utilisation of the budget outlined above demands the highest degree of efficiency and accountability. The negative audit reports the department received over the years are a matter of grave concern to us.
The Ministry and the department’s management, guided by the Select Committee and the Portfolio Committee, have initiated a financial strategy to address the concerns raised by the Auditor-General and Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), aimed at the attainment of its goal of No Audit Qualification by 2012/13 financial year. These measures include the implementation of accounting systems to enable the department to produce credible financial statements and building internal capacity in strategic areas such as finance, internal audit, strategy and risk management.
Honourable Speaker,
In conclusion, let me thank the Chairperson, Mr Mofokeng and members of the Select Committee for their continuing support and guidance.
I also thank the Director-General, Ms Nonkululeko Sindane, her management team and all staff for their dedication and commitment to the course of justice.
Thank you.
