Constitutional Development, on the occasion of the 10th anniversary celebration
of the South African Constitution, Kimberley
3 February 2007
Programme Director, Justice Tlaletsi
Premier Dipuo Peters
Judge President Kgomo
Honourable members of the provincial legislature
Distinguished members of the judiciary and magistracy
Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen
I am honoured and privileged to be with the community of this beautiful
province this morning at this important occasion the celebration of the tenth
anniversary of the adoption of our constitution. It is a remarkable day and I
am pleased that the judiciary initiated this event to celebrate with the people
the adoption of the constitution. Ladies and gentlemen, the constitution has
restored to all South Africans, their humanity and dignity. The constitution
has made it possible for government to design and implement policy that is
intended to address the socio-economic conditions of our people. The targeted
people are the poor of the poorest and the most vulnerable. The aim is to
provide a minimum safety net for the indigent such as social security, child
grants, houses, free basic electricity and water. At the same time government
seeks to grow the economy to create jobs for our people. I want to remind you
of the wise words of our former President Nelson Mandela in an address to the
National Assemble on the occasion of the adoption of the Constitution in
1996:
"The new constitution obliges us to strive to improve the quality of life of
our people." Today, ladies and gentlemen, it is with regard to matters of
justice, safety and security that I want to put an emphasis on. Access to
justice is an important right of all citizens. We are continuously tackling
this huge challenge. We are confident that in time we will succeed in providing
an enabling environment for our people to access justice. Over the years we
have been implementing programmes and institutional arrangements aimed at
facilitating greater access to justice for those most vulnerable. Some of the
examples of such institutional arrangements are the establishment of Justice
Centres of the Legal Aid Board throughout the country to ensure that our
indigent people have access to legal aid and the development of unique
multi-sectoral anti-abuse centres dubbed Thuthuzela Centres of the Sexual
Offences and Community Affairs programme of the National Prosecuting
Authority.
Through this programme we have established dedicated Sexual Offence to
better deal with cases of sexual abuse. There is also the current campaign of
Isondlo which seeks to entrench a culture of caring for children and taking
responsibility accordingly. The campaign has brought relieve to the vulnerable
children, some in this very same province. I now turn to the challenges of this
province. Part of the challenges faced by this province relate to the lack of
infrastructure because the province is mainly rural and sparsely populated. We
may still be facing the challenge of having provision of justice in some of
these areas being provided by small units of interrelated persons in a manner
that may defeats the ends of justice. The province also has higher incidences
of the most horrendous form of criminality, mainly rape, child abuse and abuse
of the rights of farm workers. This is an area of focus as we undertake the
review of the criminal system. Let me indicate that the justice cluster is
determined to provide appropriate and enabling infrastructure to these
communities.
We are going to re-demarcate the magisterial districts is such a manner as
to provide more courts and reduce distance to people to travel. We have just
come out of the ANC Lekgotla where a decision has been taken that we should
strengthen community involvement in the reduction of crime and the promotion of
access to justice. The Provincial Executive of the ANC, I am told, has met
yesterday and they are continuing with their meeting today. Their resolution
should guide the ANC in the province about strategies to pursue in an effort at
combating crime. I look forward to those resolutions as they will help us to
refine our approach to justice services in the province. We must remember all
the time that as the judiciary, legislature and the executive we are enjoined
to work together by the constitution. Chapter 3 of the constitution provides
guiding principles to ensure cooperative governance between all spheres and
arms of government. Parliament and the Executive, working vertically, have
relatively improved efficiency in that regard. There is better working
relationship between national provincial and local spheres of government.
Legislatures relatively work well with the executive even though there is a
room for improvement. We must improve cooperation between the judiciary and
other organs of the state, without compromising the independence of the
judiciary. We should work together for the common good.
It is for this reason that I think that today's event illustrates that we
can work together. We need more of these events as they inspire confidence and
make us understand who we are and how we are doing in meeting our challenge.
"Ons moet saam werk in ons bloed verband". In conclusion let me take this
opportunity to propagate the Victims Charter which provides for minimum
standards for the rights of victims and survivors of crime in South Africa. The
charter will be distributed widely through our justice office in this province.
The department is organising campaigns and media strategies to create awareness
of the charter. The challenge for all of us is therefore to ensure that the
constitution is translated into a living reality for all, especially the
vulnerable and the poor.
I thank you!
Issued by: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
3 February 2007
Source: Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (http://www.doj.gov.za)
