Statement of Commitment by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at the 8th Social Justice Summit: “The District Development Model / Inter-Governmental Relations as Catalysts for Achieving SDGs and Social Justice” held at Stellenbosch University
Programme Director, Mr Aldrin Sampear,
Prof Deresh Ramjugernath,
Professor Thuli Madonsela,
Deputy Minister Namane Masemola,
Distinguished guests, colleagues and friends,
Good morning to all.
Professor Madonsela, before I proceed, I have to get two things off my chest.
Firstly, I belong to a generation for whom the signing of Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika was an invitation for teargas and a baton charge by the riot police. Therefore, it will forever be special to have the South African Police Service lead us in signing the National Anthem at a summit on social justice. Thank you.
Secondly, this 8th Social Justice Summit takes place when the 2026 edition of the UNDP and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative research centre annual report indicates that 51.5 million more people are living in "acute" poverty compared to the previous year. This is the fist time that the UN global poverty index has risen since its creation in 2010, bringing the number of people affected to 1.2 billion.
Whenever one comes to Stellenbosch, one is reminded of the late Chief Justice Pius Langa. Twenty years ago, here in Stellenbosch, Chief Justice Langa delivered his lecture on transformative constitutionalism. His argument was that our transition did not end with the adoption of the Constitution.
The Constitution commits us to an ongoing process of changing a society shaped by division, exclusion and inequality into one based on dignity, equality and freedom. That is particularly relevant as we mark thirty years since the adoption of our Constitution under the theme: “One Constitution. One Nation. Reflect. Renew. Recommit”.
The Preamble to the Constitution expresses what we set out to do: to heal the divisions of the past, establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights, improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.
Thirty years later, we have to ask how effectively our institutions are giving practical effect to those commitments. That speaks directly to the theme of this Summit.
The District Development Model is intended to address fragmentation between national, provincial and local government. People do not experience government according to the division of functions contained in legislation or departmental organograms and annual performance targets.
A community without water is not interested in disagreements about which sphere of government is responsible. A woman walking through an unlit public space does not experience policing, municipal infrastructure and community safety as separate government functions. A person trying to obtain an identity document, obtain a protection order or reach a court encounters the state as a whole.
For that reason, cooperation between the spheres of government is essential. The question, however, is whether that cooperation produces better, and we must stress, more just results.
The District Development Model should therefore be assessed against what happens on the ground. Does integrated planning improve services? Does it allow government to deal more effectively with problems that cross departmental boundaries? Are resources being used better? Are communities more involved in decisions that affect them? We should also be prepared to identify where the model is not working as intended and make the necessary changes.
Migration is one current example of the need for a coordinated approach. South Africans have raised legitimate concerns about border control, employment, pressure on public services, crime and enforcement of immigration law.
The President has acknowledged those concerns and committed government to addressing them. South Africa also has constitutional and international obligations towards refugees and asylum seekers.
The Inter-Ministerial Committee on Migration has recently outlined government’s response to recent court judgments dealing with access to the asylum system.
Government has indicated that it will comply with court orders while seeking legal clarity and improving the processes through which people register an intention to seek asylum and gain access to Refugee Reception Offices.
Home Affairs cannot deal with migration on its own. The work involves the Border Management Authority, the police, prosecutors, courts, social services and municipalities. Communities are affected directly as well.
Government has to enforce immigration law and secure our borders, while remaining within the Constitution and the law. There should also be no ambiguity that legitimate concern about migration cannot justify xenophobia, intimidation or violence against foreign nationals.
Gender-based violence and femicide provide another example of why different parts of government need to work together. The recent murders of women in Ekurhuleni and elsewhere have caused understandable anger and fear.
When the President addressed the nation on 29 September, he acknowledged that what government has done has not been enough. He also said that every sphere of government has a responsibility for the safety of women.
Municipalities have been directed to work with provincial governments and the police on women’s safety audits and to identify high-risk areas. This is important because preventing gender-based violence is not confined to policing and prosecution. Street lighting, public transport, safe public spaces, shelters, schools and health services all have a bearing on women’s safety.
So too does the way complaints are handled, how quickly protection orders can be obtained and whether those orders are enforced.
This year also marks seventy years since the Women’s March of 1956. It is an occasion to recognise the enormous advances that have been made, while also acknowledging how much remains unfinished.
The freedom promised by the Constitution cannot be considered complete while so many women have to take the risk of violence into account in the ordinary course of their daily lives. Government has responsibilities at every level, but the response also depends on families, communities, civil society, religious organisations and men.
We meet just a few weeks before the local government elections on 4 November. Those elections take place against a difficult context.
Afrobarometer found that only 17 per cent of respondents believe local councillors often or always listen to ordinary people. Only 26 per cent say they trust their local council somewhat or a lot, while 70 per cent rate the performance of their councillor negatively.
We must take those findings seriously. They point to a substantial gap between what people expect from local government and what many of them believe they are receiving.
There is a broader concern as well. Afrobarometer found that 49 per cent of South Africans say democracy is preferable to any other form of government, compared with 72 per cent in 2011. Only 29 per cent said they were satisfied with the way democracy is working.
The IEC’s Voter Participation Survey similarly describes a pre-election environment characterised by frustration, disengagement and low levels of institutional trust. It finds that dissatisfaction with democracy and with local service delivery is beginning to affect attitudes towards democratic norms.
These findings should not be interpreted to mean that South Africans have rejected democracy. Majorities still support elections, political choice and fundamental freedoms. But the trend should not be ignored.
Afrobarometer’s research suggests that support for democracy in South Africa is strongly influenced by people’s assessment of government performance, service delivery, corruption and the credibility of elections.
This is relevant to transformative constitutionalism. A constitutional democracy depends on institutions, laws and procedures, but people’s confidence in that system is also shaped by their everyday experience of public institutions.
Trust has to be earned through performance and conduct. Government needs to listen more carefully and deliver more reliably. It has to account for the use of public money and act within the law. When an institution fails, there should be an honest assessment of what went wrong and a serious effort to correct it.
Public participation also has to be genuine. Communities quickly recognise a process in which consultation takes place after the main decisions have already been made.
The same practical approach should be applied to the District Development Model. Has better coordination helped to resolve problems that previously moved between departments without being solved? Are budgets across the spheres being aligned more effectively? Is it clearer who is responsible for delivery? Are conditions improving in communities that have historically been poorly served?
The proposal at this Summit for municipality-level SDG data can assist with that work. National and provincial averages often conceal large differences between communities. More detailed information can help identify where intervention is required and provide a better basis for assessing whether policies are reducing inequality.
For the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, access to justice has to be part of this discussion. Justice is not confined to what happens once a case reaches a courtroom.
People need access to maintenance, protection from domestic violence, family-law services, Legal Aid, Small Claims Courts, deceased-estate services, community advice offices and the institutions established to protect constitutional rights.
Our court rationalisation programme is one practical example of this work. Apartheid geography should not continue to determine how far a person must travel to obtain justice. We need to know where communities remain poorly served and use that information when planning the justice footprint.
The Justice portfolio also has a particular responsibility in relation to SDG 16, dealing with peace, justice and strong institutions. Strong institutions are part of development. Without the rule of law, accountable government, independent courts and institutions able to protect rights, progress elsewhere becomes harder to achieve and sustain.
The President has committed government to working with the Judiciary towards a single judiciary and a judiciary-led court administration model. The aim is to strengthen the institutional independence of the Judiciary so that it is reflected in the administration and support of the courts as well as in adjudication.
The district and regional courts must form part of that process because they are where most people encounter the justice system. The transition will have to strengthen judicial independence while maintaining proper accountability for public resources and continuity in court services.
There is another recent development that deserves recognition at this Summit.
South Africans can take pride in the award of the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize to Judge Navi Pillay. Judge Pillay’s career stretches from the struggle against apartheid to the development of international human rights law and international criminal justice. She served on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court, and later as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
The award comes at a time when the institutions of international justice are under pressure. South Africa is very concerned by the sanctions imposed by the United States on the International Criminal Court and its officials. The United States imposed sanctions on the Court itself on 9 October, after earlier sanctions against judges and prosecutors. As a founding State Party to the Rome Convention on the International Criminal Court South Africa reaffirms its support for the Court.
It is entirely legitimate to criticise a court or disagree with its decisions. That is different from applying pressure to judges or prosecutors because of the work they perform. Judge Pillay’s recognition is therefore also a reminder of the importance of protecting judicial independence and the rule of law, internationally as well as in South Africa.
The decline in public trust that we referred to earlier is not a reason to retreat from constitutional democracy. It must be a rallying call to strengthen it.
South Africans need to unite around the call to defend, consolidate and advance our constitutional democracy. That requires us to protect the constitutional framework, improve the performance of democratic institutions and extend the benefits of democracy more fully into people’s lives.
By defending it, we mean protecting the Constitution, the rule of law, regular free and fair elections, judicial independence, freedom of expression and the institutions that hold public power accountable. We also defend it by ensuring that we remain a sovereign state in the family of nations.
By consolidating it, we mean improving the way those institutions function and ensuring that they earn confidence through competence, integrity and responsiveness.
By advancing it, we mean carrying the promise of democracy further into people’s daily lives, through safer communities, functioning municipalities, access to justice, economic opportunity and equal treatment.
There will, of course, be strong political disagreement about how that should be done. That is part of democracy. The important point is that those differences are contested within a constitutional order in which government remains accountable, courts are independent, the media and civil society can scrutinise those in power, and citizens are free to organise, protest and vote.
The local government elections provide an immediate opportunity for South Africans to exercise those democratic rights. Whatever people’s political preferences, the election should take place peacefully and in accordance with the Electoral Code. Political differences have to be resolved through democratic and constitutional processes.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development comes to this Summit with specific responsibilities.
We will continue working to improve access to justice and reduce geographic barriers to justice services.
We will work with other parts of government and with society in responding to gender-based violence and femicide.
We will support migration management that is effective, lawful and consistent with human dignity and South Africa’s international obligations.
Our work also includes strengthening the institutions that protect constitutional rights, supporting the rule of law at home and internationally, and ensuring that social justice receives proper attention when laws and policies are developed. That work requires cooperation with other spheres of government, Chapter 9 institutions, civil society, academia and communities.
Thirty years after the adoption of the Constitution, we are clear about the kind of society we committed ourselves to building. We have made significant progress. We also know where the gaps remain.
The work ahead is to improve the performance of our institutions and narrow the distance between the commitments contained in the Constitution and people’s daily experience of government. Doing that will also help restore confidence in our democracy.
That is the commitment we bring to this Summit.
I thank you.
