Date: 17/06/2003
Source: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
Title: Gillwald: Justice & Constitutional Development Dept Budget Vote 2003/2004
BUDGET VOTE ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MS CHERYL GILLWALD (MP), National Assembly, Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, 17 June 2003
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members
This budget debate takes place against the backdrop of yesterday's Youth Day celebrations and the recognition that this particular sector of our population continues to find itself so vulnerable to the vagaries of poverty, violence and crime.
Nonetheless, much has changed for the children and youth of this country since that wintry Soweto day in June 1976 when they took to the streets in a potent demonstration of will and determination to achieve change and social justice.
With a decade of democracy fast approaching, a review of justice system reforms in South Africa since 1994 provides ample evidence of this government's determination to promote actively the interests of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, urban and rural African women and especially the interests of our children. Furthermore, by linking the process of judicial and legal reform with the objective of achieving a just and equitable society, this government acknowledges the centrality of the justice system to the transformation of our society. It also firmly acknowledges that achieving a just and equitable social order is a function of transformation within the judiciary and the justice system itself. Additionally, this decade of reform has been achieved within a framework of sustainability premised on a clear understanding that today's resources should be utilised in a way that ensures future generations sufficient resources to meet their hopes and aspirations for the future.
The connection between crime and poverty is well established. But more significant perhaps, although less often mentioned, is the connection between poverty and vulnerability to crime. Poor women and children are more likely to be victimised because they enjoy fewer protections, less privacy and fewer resources. Similarly, their resilience in the face of victimisation is considerably less and they are less likely to get the necessary assistance to overcome it.
Interventions, therefore, that provide protections for children and the many care-givers who sustain them are not only fundamental to our justice system - these interventions are indispensable to the long-tern development of this country's people.
The Department has in this budget recommitted itself to facilitating easy access to justice, particularly for all vulnerable groups through the following specific interventions:
* Overhauling the Maintenance System and making it reliable, consistent and prompt;
* Expanding the Family Courts to all major court centres;
* Improving access to justice on all fronts through a dedicated capital investment programme that will increase the number of service points to especially the poor and marginalised;
* Continuing to develop improved implementation of gender- and child-specific legislation, such as the Domestic Violence Act; and
* Expanding the establishment of Sexual Offences courts.
Justice has a tangible role to play in poverty alleviation. Though not traditionally a component of Justice's work, poverty alleviation is a primary consideration in achieving a more effective and reliable Maintenance System. Overhauling and improving the Maintenance System has proven one of the biggest challenges to our Department and reforms in this area of our work have not shown the pace or urgency that one would have hoped for.
A well-administered maintenance process has the potential to release significant numbers of women and children from the trap of poverty. If we were to achieve a mere 50% improvement in accessing maintenance for children, our Department could make one of the most significant contributions to the social and economic development of children in this country. In addition, we would be doing this without depleting the resources of the State. Furthermore, it is our belief that efficient and improved access to the maintenance system will reduce the burden on the child grant system and empower women, children and whole families in significant ways.
It is precisely because effective maintenance collection has the potential to ameliorate the debilitating impact of poverty on vulnerable groups that we are determined to make it work. Earlier this year, our Department launched its revised maintenance outreach programme, which includes:
* Educating people about their rights and responsibilities in respect of maintenance and child support
* 400 000 illustrated booklets in all the official languages have been distributed throughout the country and five pilot educational workshops for communities are underway. A national rollout campaign will begin once the pilot workshops have been assessed
* The appointment of the first 55 Maintenance Investigators who commenced duty on 1 April 2003. These Investigators are in addition to the additional Maintenance Prosecutors whom the NPA has made available to our Courts
* Progress in the modernisation of systems for the collection and distribution of maintenance.
Effective maintenance order enforcement is vital for the empowerment of mothers and of course significantly improves their ability to provide appropriately for their children. The effective prosecution of maintenance defaulters is increasingly bringing the message home that failure to observe maintenance orders will no longer be tolerated.
It might be apposite at this juncture to commend a Western Cape Magistrate for the innovative manner in which he had dealt with some defaulters. Acknowledging the need for defaulters to retain their earning capacity, he has imposed periodic sentences on defaulters. This means that they will serve their sentence over weekends thus allowing them to keep their jobs. Faced with the prospect of several weekends in jail, many defaulters immediately settle all arrears.
Turning now to Family Courts, we have a public/private joint venture with the establishment of two People Family Law Centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town, with a third envisaged in Durban later this year. Specific protocols for case management, client support and early resolution of matters have been tried in these centres and tested for similar application in our courts. Peoples' Family Law Centres' representatives and the Department have established a task team for a comparative review of our existing Family Courts and the Family Law Centres with a view to establishing best practice. Once this is completed it will be used as a basis for specific legislation to support further rollout of family courts in the future.
The task team has completed a Blueprint for a Family Court dispensation and R17,4 million has been set aside for this purpose. The phased-in implementation is scheduled to commence during this financial year (2003/2004) and will see the strengthening of the current pilot sites in Johannesburg, Lebowakgomo, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town. It will also provide for the expansion of the Family Court dispensation to other court centres. Once again, we have the private sector to thank for their pro-active participation in this exciting process.
However, we need to move beyond merely bringing justice facilities to women and children; we need to address issues relating to the cost of litigation and the undue delays and excessive formalities in the legal process.
With respect to improving access to Justice, it is our belief that Small Claims Courts have a crucial role to play and this is especially the case in rural areas. We now have 142 Small Claims Courts operating throughout the country, 25 of them designated to rural areas. The establishment of Small Claims Courts is attributable to the services of the many attorneys and advocates who serve voluntarily as commissioners and who are the driving forces behind the process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of these individuals for their support and dedication. I would also like to thank those individuals that assisted the Ministry and the Department in determining a strategy for improved service delivery in the Small Claims courts over the past year.
Madam Speaker, it was just last week that I met with officials of the Department and representatives of the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope. We have agreed, in principle, to a joint venture pursuant to that Society's recent resolution that each member shall contribute at least 24 hours (three working days) to pro-bono work per calendar year. A project to ensure that the pro-bono contribution of the Law Society members is used to best advantage in our courts and other cluster structures will be established in the near future. An initiative to pilot the participation of students as legal assistants in the Small Claims Courts has also been approved.
I must thank the Cape Law Society and UCT's Law Faculty for their valuable contributions to our processes. Strategic partnerships like these between ourselves, the private sector, the legal profession and academic institutions will contribute significantly to the improvement of our service delivery capacity. We are grateful to the many individuals and corporations that have demonstrated their support through constructive engagement and cooperation. We should also not forget the many non-governmental and community based organisations that volunteer in our courts. We salute their efforts and acknowledge their dedication. We also know that many of these organisations suffer severe resource constraints and it for this reason that we used government's 16 Days of Activism programme last year to raise funds for these organisations. We raised nearly R800 000 rand and the Foundation for Human Rights contributed as much again to a ring-fenced fund dedicated to supporting organisations that work with victims of violence.
The Minister in the opening address of today's debate contextualised the work of our department within the range of work performed by our Safety and Security Cluster. The importance of interdepartmental cooperation and integrated work processes is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the workings of our Sexual Offences Courts.
The Department, the National Prosecuting Authority, Social Development and SAPS have established a close working relationship and have developed a National Strategy for the accelerated roll-out of Sexual Offences Courts. The focus of their efforts is to provide a seamless service to our clients from the time that each case is reported right through to prosecution. To date, 40 Sexual Offences Courts have been established in designated crisis areas and 4 Thuthuzela clinics are already operational. The cooperation and assistance of the Health Department has been invaluable in setting up these fine examples of service excellence where the victim is central to the process. Again, the participation of the private sector in enhancing our roll-out capacity must be acknowledged at this point.
Our policy with respect to Domestic Violence is premised on the direct link between violence and its palpably negative impact on the development of women and children. The response to the Domestic Violence Legislation has been overwhelming. Women and children are turning to our courts for protection in increasingly large numbers. As we speak 2,427 protection orders for domestic violence cases have been processed by the Wynberg Court since the beginning of the year.
The successful implementation of this important legislation is once again highly dependant on the integrated efforts of the SAPS and the Departments of Justice and Social Development. Recent analysis by The Consortium on Violence Against Women on the Domestic Violence legislation has indicated that where high levels of cooperation exist between the responsible departments, significantly improved levels of service are experienced by the client. Ongoing training for officials in our courts and improved mechanisms for coordinating the work of all the role-players will continue to be the focus of our efforts to improve current service levels now and into the future.
Recent United Nation's statistical analyses have revealed that women perform two-thirds of the world's work, earn one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-hundredth of the world's property. Our president, Thabo Mbeki has insisted that gender equity is the litmus test for the advance we are making towards fundamental social transformation. It is for this reason that we are delighted to announce the designation of 62 courts as Equality Courts all of which come into operation today. We strongly believe that these courts will serve as important mechanisms for righting the gender and racial wrongs and imbalances that continue to prevail in our society. We look forward to an expanded programme of operation over the coming financial year.
Madam Speaker, our programme for judicial and legal reform is well on track. We can be proud of the fact that many of the rights-based laws passed by this House since 1994 are widely considered to be best-practice examples of progressive law making. Our challenge as we go forward will be to reduce the gap between ambitious legislative measures and practical delivery on the ground.
In closing, I wish to thank the Minister, the Director General and his Exco and the Justice Board for their continued support. Thanks must also go to officials in my office for their unflagging dedication. And finally, I would be failing in my duty if I did not recognise the sterling efforts of the Justice Portfolio Committee.
Thank you.
Issued by Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
17 June 2003
Source: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
Title: Gillwald: Justice & Constitutional Development Dept Budget Vote 2003/2004
BUDGET VOTE ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY MINISTER OF JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, MS CHERYL GILLWALD (MP), National Assembly, Houses of Parliament, Cape Town, 17 June 2003
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members
This budget debate takes place against the backdrop of yesterday's Youth Day celebrations and the recognition that this particular sector of our population continues to find itself so vulnerable to the vagaries of poverty, violence and crime.
Nonetheless, much has changed for the children and youth of this country since that wintry Soweto day in June 1976 when they took to the streets in a potent demonstration of will and determination to achieve change and social justice.
With a decade of democracy fast approaching, a review of justice system reforms in South Africa since 1994 provides ample evidence of this government's determination to promote actively the interests of vulnerable groups such as the elderly, urban and rural African women and especially the interests of our children. Furthermore, by linking the process of judicial and legal reform with the objective of achieving a just and equitable society, this government acknowledges the centrality of the justice system to the transformation of our society. It also firmly acknowledges that achieving a just and equitable social order is a function of transformation within the judiciary and the justice system itself. Additionally, this decade of reform has been achieved within a framework of sustainability premised on a clear understanding that today's resources should be utilised in a way that ensures future generations sufficient resources to meet their hopes and aspirations for the future.
The connection between crime and poverty is well established. But more significant perhaps, although less often mentioned, is the connection between poverty and vulnerability to crime. Poor women and children are more likely to be victimised because they enjoy fewer protections, less privacy and fewer resources. Similarly, their resilience in the face of victimisation is considerably less and they are less likely to get the necessary assistance to overcome it.
Interventions, therefore, that provide protections for children and the many care-givers who sustain them are not only fundamental to our justice system - these interventions are indispensable to the long-tern development of this country's people.
The Department has in this budget recommitted itself to facilitating easy access to justice, particularly for all vulnerable groups through the following specific interventions:
* Overhauling the Maintenance System and making it reliable, consistent and prompt;
* Expanding the Family Courts to all major court centres;
* Improving access to justice on all fronts through a dedicated capital investment programme that will increase the number of service points to especially the poor and marginalised;
* Continuing to develop improved implementation of gender- and child-specific legislation, such as the Domestic Violence Act; and
* Expanding the establishment of Sexual Offences courts.
Justice has a tangible role to play in poverty alleviation. Though not traditionally a component of Justice's work, poverty alleviation is a primary consideration in achieving a more effective and reliable Maintenance System. Overhauling and improving the Maintenance System has proven one of the biggest challenges to our Department and reforms in this area of our work have not shown the pace or urgency that one would have hoped for.
A well-administered maintenance process has the potential to release significant numbers of women and children from the trap of poverty. If we were to achieve a mere 50% improvement in accessing maintenance for children, our Department could make one of the most significant contributions to the social and economic development of children in this country. In addition, we would be doing this without depleting the resources of the State. Furthermore, it is our belief that efficient and improved access to the maintenance system will reduce the burden on the child grant system and empower women, children and whole families in significant ways.
It is precisely because effective maintenance collection has the potential to ameliorate the debilitating impact of poverty on vulnerable groups that we are determined to make it work. Earlier this year, our Department launched its revised maintenance outreach programme, which includes:
* Educating people about their rights and responsibilities in respect of maintenance and child support
* 400 000 illustrated booklets in all the official languages have been distributed throughout the country and five pilot educational workshops for communities are underway. A national rollout campaign will begin once the pilot workshops have been assessed
* The appointment of the first 55 Maintenance Investigators who commenced duty on 1 April 2003. These Investigators are in addition to the additional Maintenance Prosecutors whom the NPA has made available to our Courts
* Progress in the modernisation of systems for the collection and distribution of maintenance.
Effective maintenance order enforcement is vital for the empowerment of mothers and of course significantly improves their ability to provide appropriately for their children. The effective prosecution of maintenance defaulters is increasingly bringing the message home that failure to observe maintenance orders will no longer be tolerated.
It might be apposite at this juncture to commend a Western Cape Magistrate for the innovative manner in which he had dealt with some defaulters. Acknowledging the need for defaulters to retain their earning capacity, he has imposed periodic sentences on defaulters. This means that they will serve their sentence over weekends thus allowing them to keep their jobs. Faced with the prospect of several weekends in jail, many defaulters immediately settle all arrears.
Turning now to Family Courts, we have a public/private joint venture with the establishment of two People Family Law Centres in Johannesburg and Cape Town, with a third envisaged in Durban later this year. Specific protocols for case management, client support and early resolution of matters have been tried in these centres and tested for similar application in our courts. Peoples' Family Law Centres' representatives and the Department have established a task team for a comparative review of our existing Family Courts and the Family Law Centres with a view to establishing best practice. Once this is completed it will be used as a basis for specific legislation to support further rollout of family courts in the future.
The task team has completed a Blueprint for a Family Court dispensation and R17,4 million has been set aside for this purpose. The phased-in implementation is scheduled to commence during this financial year (2003/2004) and will see the strengthening of the current pilot sites in Johannesburg, Lebowakgomo, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Cape Town. It will also provide for the expansion of the Family Court dispensation to other court centres. Once again, we have the private sector to thank for their pro-active participation in this exciting process.
However, we need to move beyond merely bringing justice facilities to women and children; we need to address issues relating to the cost of litigation and the undue delays and excessive formalities in the legal process.
With respect to improving access to Justice, it is our belief that Small Claims Courts have a crucial role to play and this is especially the case in rural areas. We now have 142 Small Claims Courts operating throughout the country, 25 of them designated to rural areas. The establishment of Small Claims Courts is attributable to the services of the many attorneys and advocates who serve voluntarily as commissioners and who are the driving forces behind the process. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of these individuals for their support and dedication. I would also like to thank those individuals that assisted the Ministry and the Department in determining a strategy for improved service delivery in the Small Claims courts over the past year.
Madam Speaker, it was just last week that I met with officials of the Department and representatives of the Law Society of the Cape of Good Hope. We have agreed, in principle, to a joint venture pursuant to that Society's recent resolution that each member shall contribute at least 24 hours (three working days) to pro-bono work per calendar year. A project to ensure that the pro-bono contribution of the Law Society members is used to best advantage in our courts and other cluster structures will be established in the near future. An initiative to pilot the participation of students as legal assistants in the Small Claims Courts has also been approved.
I must thank the Cape Law Society and UCT's Law Faculty for their valuable contributions to our processes. Strategic partnerships like these between ourselves, the private sector, the legal profession and academic institutions will contribute significantly to the improvement of our service delivery capacity. We are grateful to the many individuals and corporations that have demonstrated their support through constructive engagement and cooperation. We should also not forget the many non-governmental and community based organisations that volunteer in our courts. We salute their efforts and acknowledge their dedication. We also know that many of these organisations suffer severe resource constraints and it for this reason that we used government's 16 Days of Activism programme last year to raise funds for these organisations. We raised nearly R800 000 rand and the Foundation for Human Rights contributed as much again to a ring-fenced fund dedicated to supporting organisations that work with victims of violence.
The Minister in the opening address of today's debate contextualised the work of our department within the range of work performed by our Safety and Security Cluster. The importance of interdepartmental cooperation and integrated work processes is perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the workings of our Sexual Offences Courts.
The Department, the National Prosecuting Authority, Social Development and SAPS have established a close working relationship and have developed a National Strategy for the accelerated roll-out of Sexual Offences Courts. The focus of their efforts is to provide a seamless service to our clients from the time that each case is reported right through to prosecution. To date, 40 Sexual Offences Courts have been established in designated crisis areas and 4 Thuthuzela clinics are already operational. The cooperation and assistance of the Health Department has been invaluable in setting up these fine examples of service excellence where the victim is central to the process. Again, the participation of the private sector in enhancing our roll-out capacity must be acknowledged at this point.
Our policy with respect to Domestic Violence is premised on the direct link between violence and its palpably negative impact on the development of women and children. The response to the Domestic Violence Legislation has been overwhelming. Women and children are turning to our courts for protection in increasingly large numbers. As we speak 2,427 protection orders for domestic violence cases have been processed by the Wynberg Court since the beginning of the year.
The successful implementation of this important legislation is once again highly dependant on the integrated efforts of the SAPS and the Departments of Justice and Social Development. Recent analysis by The Consortium on Violence Against Women on the Domestic Violence legislation has indicated that where high levels of cooperation exist between the responsible departments, significantly improved levels of service are experienced by the client. Ongoing training for officials in our courts and improved mechanisms for coordinating the work of all the role-players will continue to be the focus of our efforts to improve current service levels now and into the future.
Recent United Nation's statistical analyses have revealed that women perform two-thirds of the world's work, earn one-tenth of the world's income and own less than one-hundredth of the world's property. Our president, Thabo Mbeki has insisted that gender equity is the litmus test for the advance we are making towards fundamental social transformation. It is for this reason that we are delighted to announce the designation of 62 courts as Equality Courts all of which come into operation today. We strongly believe that these courts will serve as important mechanisms for righting the gender and racial wrongs and imbalances that continue to prevail in our society. We look forward to an expanded programme of operation over the coming financial year.
Madam Speaker, our programme for judicial and legal reform is well on track. We can be proud of the fact that many of the rights-based laws passed by this House since 1994 are widely considered to be best-practice examples of progressive law making. Our challenge as we go forward will be to reduce the gap between ambitious legislative measures and practical delivery on the ground.
In closing, I wish to thank the Minister, the Director General and his Exco and the Justice Board for their continued support. Thanks must also go to officials in my office for their unflagging dedication. And finally, I would be failing in my duty if I did not recognise the sterling efforts of the Justice Portfolio Committee.
Thank you.
Issued by Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
17 June 2003
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