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14 June 2007,

Chairperson,
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers,
Honourable Members,
Comrades and friends,
Ladies and gentlemen

This policy debate takes place two days before the 31st anniversary of the Soweto Uprising. On Saturday it will be 31 years since the youth of South Africa marched in all parts of the country for a better education and a transformed South Africa. We salute many of those who bravely undertook that journey and in the process sacrificed their youth and their lives.

As our contribution to youth development, the department currently employs 134 young interns. These legally qualified interns have found a home in Court Services (69 interns), 35 candidate attorneys are placed with the State Attorney on two year contract, 15 are employed as legal secretaries and two are deployed as State Law Advisers.

The department plans to employ 100 law graduates that are to be employed at the law clinics of the various universities in 2007/08. We believe these initiatives will strengthen our current pool of possible recruits while at the same time an opportunity is afforded to these individuals to gain experience in a very competitive work environment.

On the eve of our budget vote in the National Assembly last month we hosted a moot court competition involving law students from the universities of the Western Cape and Stellenbosch. The competition is intended to encourage law students to apply their theoretical knowledge of the law to a practical situation.

Introduction

Honourable Members,

It is a pleasure to stand before you and report back to this House because we are indeed making progress in providing an efficient and modern court system within the context of an improved justice system. I want to use this occasion to thank all the dedicated people in the department. There are, without a doubt, huge improvements in the administration of justice and we are getting better all the time.

Within the broader context synergies are being established in the Justice Crime Prevention System (JCPS) cluster. The various departments of the JCPS Cluster have worked well together and I am pleased to be able to declare that as a cluster we have done much to improve the processes across the whole integrated justice system (IJS) value chain. We have established provincial counterparts of the National Development Committee and transversal activities across the various departments are now being aligned. We have moved away from dealing with our mandates in an isolated manner. Court managers in many parts of the country co-ordinate the work of the department.

Budget allocations

Chairperson,

The department's budget between 2003/04 and 2009/10, including statutory amounts, increases at an average annual rate of 13,6%, from R4,9 billion in 2003/04 to R10,6 billion in 2009/10. The Department's total budget for the 2007/08 financial year is R8,5 billion. R2,9 billion is allocated to the court services programme, R1,8 billion is for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and R925 million is for the Chapter nine institutions. The budget allocated to the Court Services programme include an amount of R467 million to improve infrastructure.

The budget division in terms of our regional offices is as follows:
KwaZulu-Natal: R294 million
Eastern Cape: R300 million
Gauteng: R350 million
Mpumalanga: R109 million
Limpopo: R172 million
Western Cape: R219 million
Free State: R156 million
Northern Cape: R71 million
North West: R138 million

Access to justice

We are committed to bringing justice services closer to all the people of this country. Our priority is therefore, to create adequate capacity at our courts to respond to the people's needs for swift and accessible justice.

Courts' performance
Chairperson,

Case cycle times have been improved. For example:
* The finalisation rate achieved by the Regional Courts during 2006 indicates clearly an improved performance.
* During an audit conducted on outstanding cases countrywide at the end of November 2006, it was determined that the cycle times of cases in the Regional Courts have been reduced from the previous year. The cycle time of cases from first appearance in the District Court to first appearance in the Regional Court comprises on average five months.

From the date of first appearance in Regional Court to finalisation is on average another 11 months. A total cycle time of 16 months is therefore maintained nationally on Regional court cases. This is an improvement on the cycle time of 20 months that was recorded for Regional court cases in 2005.

In the High Courts, 84% of cases had been finalised within three years of first appearance in the District Court compared to a mere 53% the previous year. The audit on outstanding cases conducted at the end of November 2006 indicated that the cycle times of all high court cases have shortened by three months. Although the cycle times according to outstanding cases amount to an average of 29 months, from date of first District Court appearance, the cycle times on finalised cases are much shorter. This is because cases are being 'fast-tracked.'

It should also be noted that even with a general decline in the performance of the courts, they have managed to maintain a high conviction rate. This is an indication that the investigation of cases and quality of prosecutions have improved. The District Courts exceeded their target of 85% with two percent by maintaining an 87% conviction rate. The Regional Courts managed a 72% conviction rate. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) as part of the Case Flow Management process is impacting positively on court productivity and cycle times as more time is available to deal with trial matters.

At the end of January 2007, a total of 37 225 cases had been diverted, compared to the total of 29 935 diversions during 2005/06 away from the criminal justice system into suitable programmes. By diverting cases, the incarceration of accused on trivial matters merely because they cannot afford to pay a fine, is also prevented. I would like to congratulate the National Prosecuting Authority, (NPA) in particular the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Advocate Pikoli, for their work on ADR.

In a briefing earlier last month, Advocate Pikoli observed that: "Experience has shown that diversion process is a very effective method to deal with first time offenders in less serious matters. As it is closely linked with the concept of restorative justice, it aims to rejoin the law-abiding community and prevent re-offending." Honourable Members, I would also like to explore with traditional leaders, the possible use of ADR in traditional courts. A range of other initiatives are underway to improve not only court performance and case flow management, but also strengthen the Integrated Justice System (IJS), interaction and co-operation between all Justice, Crime Prevention and Security cluster (JCPS) role players.

Guardian's Fund

We are pleased with our progress in the last year to improve controls and correct some of the problems highlighted by the Auditor-General in the management of the Guardian's Fund. In the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the size of the fund which grew by more than R2 billion. Clearly, the infrastructure had become inadequate and the staff complement, woefully short. The consequence of this problem was that the systems could not cope with the demand.

One of the problems was that our systems were manual, hence, automation was crucial. I am pleased to say that we have turned all of this around through our modernisation programme. While there was a great deal of delay, primarily with regard to our ability to capture the data relevant to the balancing of our books and because of the enormity of the exercise, we managed to put together a project that has proven most successful. In the past year, we have managed to automate three of the six sites and will have all our sites completed by the end of the current financial year. During the last year, there were no reported instances of any fraud or corruption. Honourable Members, all of these are clear indications that we are making progress.

Chairperson,

Courts' infrastructure

We have had working meetings with the Department of Public Works and I am confident that there will be progress in infrastructure management and development. R308 million in our capital works programme was spent during 2006/07 on the construction of new courts and additional courtrooms to existing courts. Improving security at our court buildings was a particular focus of the department's reprioritisation process during the 2005/06 financial year. Fifty x-ray machines and 200 walk-through metal detectors were procured and deployed to high-risk court buildings. In addition, burglar proofing and perimeter fencing were installed at all court buildings.

An amount of R467 million has been allocated for facilities management (capital works, day-to-day maintenance and repair and upgrading) in the 2007/08 financial year. The funds will mainly be used for the continuation of construction work of 11 major projects and for the planning and construction of new courts in Katlehong, Garies, Bityi, Ntuzuma, Soshanguve, Lutzville, Ashton, Bredasdorp, Sundumbili and Galeshewe.

The department plans to begin construction of new high courts in Limpopo and in Mpumalanga in the 2007/08 financial year. The process of acquiring sites for these courts is at an advanced stage. Of the amount of R467 million, R333 million will go towards the building of these new courts and additional accommodation. The rehabilitation of the existing court infrastructure will be looked into as well and is expected to cost R71 million.

A major drive in the new financial year will be to ensure that our facilities are accessible for the disabled. An amount of R120 million is being committed in the current financial year (from reprioritised funds) towards making 36 court buildings accessible for the disabled. This amount is in addition to the existing provision on the programme of the Department of Public Works. Honourable Members, these successful collaborations give us hope for the future.

National Prosecuting Authority
Court preparation programme

During 2006/07 the support and assistance rendered by court preparation officials to assist victims of crimes and in particular abused children continued. There are presently 68 court preparation officials with an additional 34 to be appointed with effect Thursday, 1 March 2007. A uniform training module has been developed and is to be submitted for accreditation.

Awaiting trial detainee's project

Reducing the awaiting trial detainees, especially children was one of the strategic initiatives identified by the NPA for 2006/07. The objective of the project was to effectively reduce the number of awaiting trial detainees, develop criteria to manage awaiting trial detainees according to severity of crime, the effective management of children awaiting trial and to participate at provincial level in awaiting trial detainees structures.

Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit (SOCA)

Over the years we watched Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit pursue innovative ways of doing its work. One such example, is the Thuthuzela care centre which is a world acclaimed integrated model dealing with violence against women and children. Two more Thuthuzela care centres were launched in the last financial year, bringing the total to 10. On the international front, SOCA provided training to officials from various African countries on Sexual Offences and advanced skills in the prosecution of child sex offenders and child victim management. This training was also rolled out nationally to prosecutors and other role-players. Through Project Ndabezitha, SOCA successfully trained 104 traditional leaders from five provinces on managing domestic violence in rural areas.

Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU)

The Priority Crimes Litigation Unit manages and directs investigations and prosecutions of priority crimes, including contraventions of nuclear, chemical/biological and conventional arms control legislation, and prosecutions and tracing of missing persons arising from the TRC. With regard to missing persons, 36 exhumations have been conducted so far. Twenty reburials have been conducted. The unit has also been engaged with various cases dealing with mercenary activities and nuclear proliferation. It is these successful programmes that give us hope for the future.

Transformation of the Judiciary
Honourable Members,

I am pleased to report that we are making progress in the transformation of the judicial system, and I wish to thank the Chief Justice and the Heads of Courts for their leadership. Two Bills, the Judicial Service Commission Amendment Bill and The Judicial Education Institute Bill, which are currently before Parliament, are the product of intense and constructive engagement between the Department, the judiciary and other stakeholders.

The proposed South African Judicial Education Institute Bill will, for the first time in our history, introduce a state sponsored judicial education programme for judges. The proposed Judicial Education Institute will provide training for both judges and magistrates.

The Judicial Service Commission Amendment Bill is important as it will enhance the accountability of judicial officers. I look forward to the enactment of these important Bills during this year.

In addition to the above Bills already introduced in Parliament, there are a number of other Bills on our Legislation Programme which have been identified for priority introduction this year. These include, among others, the Child Justice Bill, 13th Constitutional Amendment Bill, the Reform of Customary Law of Succession Bill and the National Prosecution Amendment Bill.

Further, the Department is also finalising a consolidated policy framework document to address other outstanding aspects relating to the transformation of the judicial system. These include the rationalisation of the High Courts, the harmonisation of the appointment procedures for judges and magistrates and aspects relating to language usage in courts. Certain aspects of the discussion document will be discussed at the conference of magistrates being planned for sometime in August this year.

Chairperson,
It is important to inform you that the selection for the special project for aspirant women judges has been completed. There are 23 women drawn from the magistracy and the legal profession who have been selected to undergo a specially designed judicial education programme which commenced on Monday, 4 June 2007. Future acting appointments may be made from the pool of those who completed the course successfully. As honourable members are aware, only 16% of the 203 judges are women. I am confident that this programme will bring us closer to an equitable dispensation.

Honourable Members,

The process of the transformation of the judicial system includes the transformation of the Traditional Courts. Traditional leaders are conferred criminal and civil jurisdiction to exercise judicial authority in respect of certain offences and claims. The conferment is by virtue of sections 10 and 20 of the Black Administration Act of 1927. Since the said Act is not consistent with the current constitutional dispensation it was repealed in November 2005.

Only sections 12 and 20 which deal with the establishment and functioning of Traditional Courts were kept in operation until 30 September 2007. This extension is with a view to allow the Department to formulate policy on the role of the traditional leaders under a democratic dispensation, which would be followed by appropriate legislation to replace the repealed sections.

An interdepartmental task team comprising officials of my department and the departments of Provincial and Local Government and Land Affairs has been appointed to draft the required policy in conjunction with the national and provincial houses of traditional leadership. A draft report which will form the basis of new legislation to replace the dispensation contained in the Black Administration Act will be submitted to Cabinet. I am hoping to have a more open consultative process involving the public later in the year. This means that we may not have legislation ready by the end of this year. The participation of and contribution by the regions where the traditional court dispensation applies, in the formulation of the desired policy, is vital.

Conclusion

In conclusion, 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. Chairperson and Honourable Members, I urge this House to 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
14 June 2007