Date: 22/06/2004
Source: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
Title: B Mabandla: Justice & Constitutional Development Dept Budget Vote 2004/2005
BUDGET SPEECH BY MS BRIGITTE MABANDLA, MP, MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, National Assembly, Parliament, 22 June 2004
Chairperson
Honourable Members
Members of the Justice Family
Comrades and Friends
INTRODUCTION
This is my first budget speech as Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development and it is therefore appropriate that I should recognise the good work of my predecessors. They laid an important foundation for the transformation of the judiciary and legal profession.
Our immediate task ten years ago was to put in place policies and legislation that would enable us to turn around the Department and its institutions. At the same time we needed to win the confidence and the respect of the majority of the citizens of this country, for the rule of law and justice. This was critical because as President Mbeki in his address at the opening of the Constitutional Court in March 2004 said: "As South Africans, we are all partners in the great enterprise of ensuring that the promise of our Constitution is fully realised, making a positive impact on the lives of all our citizens."
Ten years later significant progress has been made in a number of areas. Ten years later there is more uniformity, equality and justice in the system. The justice system is now geared towards delivering critical services to all members of our society.
Chairperson
Today's budget will persist with the Department's focus of building on the solid foundation laid out in the first decade of our democracy. Key to the Government's Programme of Action, as outlined in the recent State-of-the-Nation address, is a duty to improve the safety and security of all our citizens and communities in South Africa. Underlying this duty is the provision of increased access to justice and transformation of our institutions and systems.
We intend to ensure that our courts, which constitute one of our core functions, continue to be well-placed to deal with its civil and criminal court load, including contact crimes, especially those directed at vulnerable members of our society.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE JUDICIARY
We are mindful of the important role that an independent judiciary plays and this is clearly defined in our Constitution and we respect that. We need a transformed judiciary that relates to the realities of the society it is rooted in. The majority of the people of this country also need to identify with it as their own. President Mbeki articulated this issue clearly when he said that: "...our judiciary, and perhaps our society as a whole, must reflect on the question how our judiciary can keep a weather eye on values that may very well be as different and disparate as the colonial and apartheid system intended them to be."
Chairperson,
We are deeply concerned at the pace of the transformation of the judiciary. It is common knowledge that ten years later, the judiciary still has less than the desired number of black judges in general and women in particular. At the same time, we acknowledge that progress has been made in the last ten years. In 1994, of the 166 judges, there were 161 white male, 2 white female, 3 black male and no black female judges. Nine years later there are 61 black male, 12 black female, 13 white female and 128 white male judges. From being less than 2% black in 1994, the judiciary is now 34% black. More importantly, of the 53 new judges appointed since 1994, 89% of them are black and the magistracy is now nearly 50% black and 30% female.
Clearly more still needs to be done. Part of the solution lies at the source for candidates to the Bench. It is of concern that the appointment of black and female candidates is still lagging far below expectations. The number of black and women advocates is still lower than desired. Clearly we cannot rely on the historical progression from the Bar as the main feeder for the Bench.
There is also a complaint by black advocates that they are not getting briefs from some Government departments and parastatals. This is a matter that we need to look into with all the stakeholders.
Judicial education has been identified as a key priority to enhance the pool for the appointment of more female and black judges. Linked to judicial education is the need to establish a special justice fund to support training programmes for legal practitioners and to provide them with allowances to sustain their practices for the duration that they are exposed to education programmes. We are presently looking into the possibilities of the creation of such a fund.
The Department has also recognised the urgent need to capacitate the Office of the Chief Justice to enable the Chief Justice to perform roles relating to judicial leadership including complaints handling and management of the Magistracy. A support structure is being set-up in that office for the execution of these functions.
COURT PERFORMANCE
Chairperson,
Over the past five years improvements have been made in the court system, but the case finalisation rate and outstanding rolls remain a challenge. It has to be noted that this increased workload is, in most cases, handled with the same staff complement.
Through the Department's Re aga boswa project the Department hopes to re-deploy personnel to the courts. The project aims to empower courts to perform to their full potential, by decentralising the court management system with decision-making authority on court operations devolved to Court Managers.
Re Aga Boswa seeks to establish an integrated and aligned court management structure at the High and Lower Courts to facilitate coordination and collaboration between all role players.
The implementation of the new model will result in the phasing out of the Regional Offices and the diversion of the capacity and resources currently residing there to the courts, where they are sorely needed. The process is being piloted in KwaZulu-Natal. After a thorough evaluation of the project and the necessary adjustments made, we will start rolling-out to other provinces. One of our key concerns with court management is case backlogs, and I believe that a well thought-out strategy should be able to address this matter. The latest available information as at the end of December 2003, indicate the outstanding roll as follows:
* District Courts: 149 539
* Regional Courts: 43 573
* High Courts: 1 012
To address the problem of backlogs, in 2001 we introduced Saturday and Additional Courts. A total of 75 214 cases were handled by the Saturday & Additional Courts for the period February 2001 to March 2004. Additional Courts handled 14 935 cases for the period April 2003 to March 2004 whilst the Saturday courts handled 8 714 cases for the period April 2003 to March 2004: a total of 23 649 for the 2003/4 period. 72 courts participated in the project during 2003.
Some improvements were also realised with regard to court hours by the Saturday & Additional courts. For the same period of April 2003 to March 2004 the average court hours stood at 5h25 for the District Courts and 4h46 for the Regional Courts sitting on Saturdays while the Additional Courts hours also improved to an average of 4h01 in the District Courts and 4h22 in the Regional Courts, respectively.
The conviction rate for the same period for Additional Courts was 84% for District Courts and 68% for Regional Courts while in the Saturday Courts it was 65% for district courts and 76% for regional courts.
Additional Courts will be scaled down and the Saturday Courts will be operational until the end of September 2004, as the courts will have been relatively resourced to deal with these cases in a permanent court arrangement. The concept of Night courts is also being considered with the role players as part of mechanisms to continue to work the case backlogs down.
The restructuring project has also allowed the judiciary to take control of the litigation process from the litigants (prosecution and lawyers). Preliminary results show, through reduced case cycle, increased average court hours and successful prosecution, enhanced court performance. In the last year average court hours have increased from 3h26 to 4h30.
Since my appointment I have visited a number of courts and naturally we are concerned about the conditions at some of these courts, especially those in previously disadvantaged areas and the previous Bantustans. In the last two years we have taken a conscious decision to build the majority of new courts in previously disadvantaged rural and urban areas of the country, where there is an acute need for courts and related facilities for the dispensation of justice.
This will even out the distribution of infrastructure within communities and enhance our ability to provide improved access to justice for all.
In the current financial year, we have planned to refurbish 100 of the 361 courts that need to be renovated. We also seek to contribute to poverty alleviation through the day-to-day maintenance and discussions with the Department of Public Works to coordinate this initiative are on-going. It has to be noted that the majority of our courts are in good condition and function properly.
EQUALITY COURTS
The right to equality is a fundamental tenet of our Constitution and to this end we initiated the Equality Courts in June 2003. There are presently 210 designated Equality Courts throughout the country. As far as the High Courts are concerned, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Discrimination Act, 2000 (Act No. 4 of 2000), provide that every High Court is an Equality Court for its area of jurisdiction.
More than 800 magistrates have been trained in equality matters. This training will be extended to include more Magistrates to ensure that all courts to be designated as Equality Courts have a sufficient number of trained presiding officers. 62 cases under the Equality Act have been reported in the 2003/04 financial year and a monitoring and evaluation system has been established.
SMALL CLAIMS COURTS
Central to the provision of informal and inexpensive services to the poor and the indigent is the services provided by the Small Claims Courts. The increase in February 2004 of the small claims jurisdiction to R7000 has, on the one hand increased the demand for their services, while on the other hand it has reduced the scope of work of small emerging practitioners from getting briefs on civil claims below the stipulated amount. We are also looking at new and improved travel allowances for Commissioners. This step has the potential of enhancing the performance of these courts and at the same time encouraging more practitioners to avail themselves for this vital work.
These courts have a crucial role to play and this is especially the case in small and remote settlements and rural areas. We are therefore considering setting up circuit courts that will cover most of these areas. We now have 152 Small Claims Courts operating throughout the country, more than 25 of them designated to rural areas.
COMMUNITY COURTS
With regard to Hatfield-type Community Courts that the President highlighted as part of our high priority in his State-of-the-Nation Address, an Implementation Plan based on the target of establishing 18 such courts during this fiscal year, as announced by the President, is currently under way. The plan includes resources mobilisation and alignment of resource deployment between the Police Service, Social Development, National Prosecuting Authority, Courts, Legal Aid Board and Correctional Services. The following are some of the areas being mooted as ideal for establishing this type of a court, namely, Soweto, Hillbrow, Mdantsane, Mamelodi and Cape Town Water Front.
MASTER'S OFFICE
I am keenly aware of the important role that the Master's Office has to play in the administration of justice and it is therefore a high priority for my Ministry. The Masters deal with matters that are estimated to have a value of tens of billions of Rands per annum. Special attention will therefore be paid to the creation of proper systems to minimise the possibility of corruption. Any alleged corruption, upon receipt of at least prima facie verification, will be deal with speedily by the relevant authorities.
The Masters' Office exercise oversight functions in respect of the administration of insolvent estates, deceased estates, curatorships and trusts and the Guardian's Fund. They also appoint liquidators, executors, trustees and tutors in terms of legislation.
A review of the way in which liquidators are currently appointed is on the cards. Such policies will be adopted soon. Once this is done, it is envisaged that the industry will be properly regulated and that liquidators will be held accountable for the way in which they carry out their functions.
We have stressed for some time now that the emphasis must be on rescuing rather than liquidating business entities in order to protect the economy, workers, and their families and creditors and others. This too is necessary to instil greater investor confidence in our country and our economy.
I also want to mention that the offices are understaffed, use too many temporary workers and have problems relating to skills development. We are trying to assess exactly what our staff complements should be in each office and will expedite the appointment of staff.
MANAGEMENT OF FINANCES
I am pleased to report that overall there is an improvement in the management of finances. No effort is spared in capacitating our staff that handles finances in the courts. We are also working at attaining a Non Qualified report.
The Management of Monies in Trust remains a challenge. I believe that the proper management of Monies in Trust, such as maintenance, has the potential to have a direct positive effect on poverty alleviation.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Turning to poverty alleviation, I believe we have an important role to play in this regard because the vast majority of beneficiaries in maintenance matters are the poor. The Maintenance Act if implemented effectively has a potential to impact positively on poverty eradication. It has come to my attention that, for example, a woman in an outlying rural receives R200 a month as maintenance payout, but she has to spend close to R160 to collect that money. There must surely be innovative ways to prevent tragedies of this nature. The matter of maintenance will remain the focus of our attention until we have an effective system in place.
We are committed to the continued improvement of child and spouse maintenance system to address the plight of women and children who are dependent on maintenance payment for their livelihood. Areas of emphasis in this current year include:
* The appointment of additional Maintenance Investigators in areas experiencing greatest maintenance case backlogs and delayed service of process. We are happy to announce that in the courts where we have appointed the current 67 Maintenance Investigators, we have been able to reduce the maintenance case cycle time to an average of 3 - 4 months, from the previous 9 - 11 months
* The appointment and training of Maintenance Officers and maintenance clerks;
* The extension of the current circuit criminal courts to include maintenance courts and maintenance payment to extend services to remote areas;
* The automation of the maintenance processes to ensure expedient services;
* An improved payment system through possible outsourced or private public partnership initiatives.
A maintenance solution model aligned to the family court blueprint is being developed in the Johannesburg Maintenance Court and best practices and experiences learned from the project will be rolled out to other courts country-wide. We have strengthened our efforts in the area of domestic violence. Guidelines, which seek to empower judicial officers and other practitioners in handling domestic violence matters, have been finalised and will be published shortly.
We are following with interest the developments around the pending Constitutional Court case dealing with the sale in execution of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses. Owners of these houses, most of them poor, had their houses sold for prices far below the market value because they owned creditors small amount of money. I have requested my Department to urgently look into the legislation as it exists and come up with recommendations on how to prevent similar occurrences.
We are also in the process of preparing amendments to the Debt Collectors Act, 1998, which is intended to put a halt on the ruthless exploitation of the poor, but is still evaded by some unscrupulous individuals. The amendments are intended, among others, to ensure that the definition of "debt collector" is broadened.
Also on our legislative programme is the Control of Unreasonable or Oppressive Stipulations in Contracts Bill, which aims to address abuses in the case of unreasonable or oppressive contracts. The victims again are the uninformed and illiterate poor. On a daily basis individuals voluntarily enter into contracts with one another, or with banks and financial institutions in the expectation that the contracts will satisfy their needs, only to find that the contracts are wholly or partly unjust.
VICTIM EMPOWERMENT
The draft South African Victims' Charter, as outlined by the President in his recent State-of-the-Nation address, aims to imbue in our national community an improved sense of security, empowerment and trust in the processes that play themselves out in the criminal justice system.
Victims often want more information on what is likely to happen and need to be kept up to date with developments in their cases. They want to be treated with respect throughout the whole criminal justice system and they want to know that their interests are being taken into account.
However, in our efforts to empower victims of crime, it is critical that we should not retreat from our hard won human rights.
GENDER
Chairperson,
Poor women remain at the bottom rung of justice in our society. The Department of Justice and Constitutional has a pivotal role in bringing about a socio-economic change in the situation of these women. I am confident that in the next five years we will succeed in turning around for the better, the lives of millions of our women.
On 12 June 2004 we convened an important Mini Gender Indaba with a number of stake-holders that include: South African Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality, the Office on the Status of Women (OSW), Sexual Affairs and Community Affairs Unit (SOCCA) and the Directorate Gender Issues of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The meeting was intended to determine the work done by the institutions represented and in the process identify the extent of overlaps and facilitate efficiency. I am pleased to report that we have set up working groups to look at areas of overlap so as to enable our institutions to pull together and improve the outcomes. We are also going to look at research, public education and the monitoring of the compliance of the state.
In conclusion, I wish to thank everyone working in the Department for the good work done over the years. I recognise my Director General, Vusi Pikoli, the Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, the Deputy Chief Justice, Pius Langa, Judge Presidents, the leaders of the Magistracy, the National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, Chairpersons of the Chapter 9 institutions and Chairperson of the LAB, Judge Mlambo.
Thank you!
Issued by: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
22 June 2004
Source: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
Title: B Mabandla: Justice & Constitutional Development Dept Budget Vote 2004/2005
BUDGET SPEECH BY MS BRIGITTE MABANDLA, MP, MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, National Assembly, Parliament, 22 June 2004
Chairperson
Honourable Members
Members of the Justice Family
Comrades and Friends
INTRODUCTION
This is my first budget speech as Minister for Justice and Constitutional Development and it is therefore appropriate that I should recognise the good work of my predecessors. They laid an important foundation for the transformation of the judiciary and legal profession.
Our immediate task ten years ago was to put in place policies and legislation that would enable us to turn around the Department and its institutions. At the same time we needed to win the confidence and the respect of the majority of the citizens of this country, for the rule of law and justice. This was critical because as President Mbeki in his address at the opening of the Constitutional Court in March 2004 said: "As South Africans, we are all partners in the great enterprise of ensuring that the promise of our Constitution is fully realised, making a positive impact on the lives of all our citizens."
Ten years later significant progress has been made in a number of areas. Ten years later there is more uniformity, equality and justice in the system. The justice system is now geared towards delivering critical services to all members of our society.
Chairperson
Today's budget will persist with the Department's focus of building on the solid foundation laid out in the first decade of our democracy. Key to the Government's Programme of Action, as outlined in the recent State-of-the-Nation address, is a duty to improve the safety and security of all our citizens and communities in South Africa. Underlying this duty is the provision of increased access to justice and transformation of our institutions and systems.
We intend to ensure that our courts, which constitute one of our core functions, continue to be well-placed to deal with its civil and criminal court load, including contact crimes, especially those directed at vulnerable members of our society.
TRANSFORMATION OF THE JUDICIARY
We are mindful of the important role that an independent judiciary plays and this is clearly defined in our Constitution and we respect that. We need a transformed judiciary that relates to the realities of the society it is rooted in. The majority of the people of this country also need to identify with it as their own. President Mbeki articulated this issue clearly when he said that: "...our judiciary, and perhaps our society as a whole, must reflect on the question how our judiciary can keep a weather eye on values that may very well be as different and disparate as the colonial and apartheid system intended them to be."
Chairperson,
We are deeply concerned at the pace of the transformation of the judiciary. It is common knowledge that ten years later, the judiciary still has less than the desired number of black judges in general and women in particular. At the same time, we acknowledge that progress has been made in the last ten years. In 1994, of the 166 judges, there were 161 white male, 2 white female, 3 black male and no black female judges. Nine years later there are 61 black male, 12 black female, 13 white female and 128 white male judges. From being less than 2% black in 1994, the judiciary is now 34% black. More importantly, of the 53 new judges appointed since 1994, 89% of them are black and the magistracy is now nearly 50% black and 30% female.
Clearly more still needs to be done. Part of the solution lies at the source for candidates to the Bench. It is of concern that the appointment of black and female candidates is still lagging far below expectations. The number of black and women advocates is still lower than desired. Clearly we cannot rely on the historical progression from the Bar as the main feeder for the Bench.
There is also a complaint by black advocates that they are not getting briefs from some Government departments and parastatals. This is a matter that we need to look into with all the stakeholders.
Judicial education has been identified as a key priority to enhance the pool for the appointment of more female and black judges. Linked to judicial education is the need to establish a special justice fund to support training programmes for legal practitioners and to provide them with allowances to sustain their practices for the duration that they are exposed to education programmes. We are presently looking into the possibilities of the creation of such a fund.
The Department has also recognised the urgent need to capacitate the Office of the Chief Justice to enable the Chief Justice to perform roles relating to judicial leadership including complaints handling and management of the Magistracy. A support structure is being set-up in that office for the execution of these functions.
COURT PERFORMANCE
Chairperson,
Over the past five years improvements have been made in the court system, but the case finalisation rate and outstanding rolls remain a challenge. It has to be noted that this increased workload is, in most cases, handled with the same staff complement.
Through the Department's Re aga boswa project the Department hopes to re-deploy personnel to the courts. The project aims to empower courts to perform to their full potential, by decentralising the court management system with decision-making authority on court operations devolved to Court Managers.
Re Aga Boswa seeks to establish an integrated and aligned court management structure at the High and Lower Courts to facilitate coordination and collaboration between all role players.
The implementation of the new model will result in the phasing out of the Regional Offices and the diversion of the capacity and resources currently residing there to the courts, where they are sorely needed. The process is being piloted in KwaZulu-Natal. After a thorough evaluation of the project and the necessary adjustments made, we will start rolling-out to other provinces. One of our key concerns with court management is case backlogs, and I believe that a well thought-out strategy should be able to address this matter. The latest available information as at the end of December 2003, indicate the outstanding roll as follows:
* District Courts: 149 539
* Regional Courts: 43 573
* High Courts: 1 012
To address the problem of backlogs, in 2001 we introduced Saturday and Additional Courts. A total of 75 214 cases were handled by the Saturday & Additional Courts for the period February 2001 to March 2004. Additional Courts handled 14 935 cases for the period April 2003 to March 2004 whilst the Saturday courts handled 8 714 cases for the period April 2003 to March 2004: a total of 23 649 for the 2003/4 period. 72 courts participated in the project during 2003.
Some improvements were also realised with regard to court hours by the Saturday & Additional courts. For the same period of April 2003 to March 2004 the average court hours stood at 5h25 for the District Courts and 4h46 for the Regional Courts sitting on Saturdays while the Additional Courts hours also improved to an average of 4h01 in the District Courts and 4h22 in the Regional Courts, respectively.
The conviction rate for the same period for Additional Courts was 84% for District Courts and 68% for Regional Courts while in the Saturday Courts it was 65% for district courts and 76% for regional courts.
Additional Courts will be scaled down and the Saturday Courts will be operational until the end of September 2004, as the courts will have been relatively resourced to deal with these cases in a permanent court arrangement. The concept of Night courts is also being considered with the role players as part of mechanisms to continue to work the case backlogs down.
The restructuring project has also allowed the judiciary to take control of the litigation process from the litigants (prosecution and lawyers). Preliminary results show, through reduced case cycle, increased average court hours and successful prosecution, enhanced court performance. In the last year average court hours have increased from 3h26 to 4h30.
Since my appointment I have visited a number of courts and naturally we are concerned about the conditions at some of these courts, especially those in previously disadvantaged areas and the previous Bantustans. In the last two years we have taken a conscious decision to build the majority of new courts in previously disadvantaged rural and urban areas of the country, where there is an acute need for courts and related facilities for the dispensation of justice.
This will even out the distribution of infrastructure within communities and enhance our ability to provide improved access to justice for all.
In the current financial year, we have planned to refurbish 100 of the 361 courts that need to be renovated. We also seek to contribute to poverty alleviation through the day-to-day maintenance and discussions with the Department of Public Works to coordinate this initiative are on-going. It has to be noted that the majority of our courts are in good condition and function properly.
EQUALITY COURTS
The right to equality is a fundamental tenet of our Constitution and to this end we initiated the Equality Courts in June 2003. There are presently 210 designated Equality Courts throughout the country. As far as the High Courts are concerned, the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Discrimination Act, 2000 (Act No. 4 of 2000), provide that every High Court is an Equality Court for its area of jurisdiction.
More than 800 magistrates have been trained in equality matters. This training will be extended to include more Magistrates to ensure that all courts to be designated as Equality Courts have a sufficient number of trained presiding officers. 62 cases under the Equality Act have been reported in the 2003/04 financial year and a monitoring and evaluation system has been established.
SMALL CLAIMS COURTS
Central to the provision of informal and inexpensive services to the poor and the indigent is the services provided by the Small Claims Courts. The increase in February 2004 of the small claims jurisdiction to R7000 has, on the one hand increased the demand for their services, while on the other hand it has reduced the scope of work of small emerging practitioners from getting briefs on civil claims below the stipulated amount. We are also looking at new and improved travel allowances for Commissioners. This step has the potential of enhancing the performance of these courts and at the same time encouraging more practitioners to avail themselves for this vital work.
These courts have a crucial role to play and this is especially the case in small and remote settlements and rural areas. We are therefore considering setting up circuit courts that will cover most of these areas. We now have 152 Small Claims Courts operating throughout the country, more than 25 of them designated to rural areas.
COMMUNITY COURTS
With regard to Hatfield-type Community Courts that the President highlighted as part of our high priority in his State-of-the-Nation Address, an Implementation Plan based on the target of establishing 18 such courts during this fiscal year, as announced by the President, is currently under way. The plan includes resources mobilisation and alignment of resource deployment between the Police Service, Social Development, National Prosecuting Authority, Courts, Legal Aid Board and Correctional Services. The following are some of the areas being mooted as ideal for establishing this type of a court, namely, Soweto, Hillbrow, Mdantsane, Mamelodi and Cape Town Water Front.
MASTER'S OFFICE
I am keenly aware of the important role that the Master's Office has to play in the administration of justice and it is therefore a high priority for my Ministry. The Masters deal with matters that are estimated to have a value of tens of billions of Rands per annum. Special attention will therefore be paid to the creation of proper systems to minimise the possibility of corruption. Any alleged corruption, upon receipt of at least prima facie verification, will be deal with speedily by the relevant authorities.
The Masters' Office exercise oversight functions in respect of the administration of insolvent estates, deceased estates, curatorships and trusts and the Guardian's Fund. They also appoint liquidators, executors, trustees and tutors in terms of legislation.
A review of the way in which liquidators are currently appointed is on the cards. Such policies will be adopted soon. Once this is done, it is envisaged that the industry will be properly regulated and that liquidators will be held accountable for the way in which they carry out their functions.
We have stressed for some time now that the emphasis must be on rescuing rather than liquidating business entities in order to protect the economy, workers, and their families and creditors and others. This too is necessary to instil greater investor confidence in our country and our economy.
I also want to mention that the offices are understaffed, use too many temporary workers and have problems relating to skills development. We are trying to assess exactly what our staff complements should be in each office and will expedite the appointment of staff.
MANAGEMENT OF FINANCES
I am pleased to report that overall there is an improvement in the management of finances. No effort is spared in capacitating our staff that handles finances in the courts. We are also working at attaining a Non Qualified report.
The Management of Monies in Trust remains a challenge. I believe that the proper management of Monies in Trust, such as maintenance, has the potential to have a direct positive effect on poverty alleviation.
POVERTY ALLEVIATION
Turning to poverty alleviation, I believe we have an important role to play in this regard because the vast majority of beneficiaries in maintenance matters are the poor. The Maintenance Act if implemented effectively has a potential to impact positively on poverty eradication. It has come to my attention that, for example, a woman in an outlying rural receives R200 a month as maintenance payout, but she has to spend close to R160 to collect that money. There must surely be innovative ways to prevent tragedies of this nature. The matter of maintenance will remain the focus of our attention until we have an effective system in place.
We are committed to the continued improvement of child and spouse maintenance system to address the plight of women and children who are dependent on maintenance payment for their livelihood. Areas of emphasis in this current year include:
* The appointment of additional Maintenance Investigators in areas experiencing greatest maintenance case backlogs and delayed service of process. We are happy to announce that in the courts where we have appointed the current 67 Maintenance Investigators, we have been able to reduce the maintenance case cycle time to an average of 3 - 4 months, from the previous 9 - 11 months
* The appointment and training of Maintenance Officers and maintenance clerks;
* The extension of the current circuit criminal courts to include maintenance courts and maintenance payment to extend services to remote areas;
* The automation of the maintenance processes to ensure expedient services;
* An improved payment system through possible outsourced or private public partnership initiatives.
A maintenance solution model aligned to the family court blueprint is being developed in the Johannesburg Maintenance Court and best practices and experiences learned from the project will be rolled out to other courts country-wide. We have strengthened our efforts in the area of domestic violence. Guidelines, which seek to empower judicial officers and other practitioners in handling domestic violence matters, have been finalised and will be published shortly.
We are following with interest the developments around the pending Constitutional Court case dealing with the sale in execution of Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) houses. Owners of these houses, most of them poor, had their houses sold for prices far below the market value because they owned creditors small amount of money. I have requested my Department to urgently look into the legislation as it exists and come up with recommendations on how to prevent similar occurrences.
We are also in the process of preparing amendments to the Debt Collectors Act, 1998, which is intended to put a halt on the ruthless exploitation of the poor, but is still evaded by some unscrupulous individuals. The amendments are intended, among others, to ensure that the definition of "debt collector" is broadened.
Also on our legislative programme is the Control of Unreasonable or Oppressive Stipulations in Contracts Bill, which aims to address abuses in the case of unreasonable or oppressive contracts. The victims again are the uninformed and illiterate poor. On a daily basis individuals voluntarily enter into contracts with one another, or with banks and financial institutions in the expectation that the contracts will satisfy their needs, only to find that the contracts are wholly or partly unjust.
VICTIM EMPOWERMENT
The draft South African Victims' Charter, as outlined by the President in his recent State-of-the-Nation address, aims to imbue in our national community an improved sense of security, empowerment and trust in the processes that play themselves out in the criminal justice system.
Victims often want more information on what is likely to happen and need to be kept up to date with developments in their cases. They want to be treated with respect throughout the whole criminal justice system and they want to know that their interests are being taken into account.
However, in our efforts to empower victims of crime, it is critical that we should not retreat from our hard won human rights.
GENDER
Chairperson,
Poor women remain at the bottom rung of justice in our society. The Department of Justice and Constitutional has a pivotal role in bringing about a socio-economic change in the situation of these women. I am confident that in the next five years we will succeed in turning around for the better, the lives of millions of our women.
On 12 June 2004 we convened an important Mini Gender Indaba with a number of stake-holders that include: South African Human Rights Commission, the Commission on Gender Equality, the Office on the Status of Women (OSW), Sexual Affairs and Community Affairs Unit (SOCCA) and the Directorate Gender Issues of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The meeting was intended to determine the work done by the institutions represented and in the process identify the extent of overlaps and facilitate efficiency. I am pleased to report that we have set up working groups to look at areas of overlap so as to enable our institutions to pull together and improve the outcomes. We are also going to look at research, public education and the monitoring of the compliance of the state.
In conclusion, I wish to thank everyone working in the Department for the good work done over the years. I recognise my Director General, Vusi Pikoli, the Chief Justice Arthur Chaskalson, the Deputy Chief Justice, Pius Langa, Judge Presidents, the leaders of the Magistracy, the National Director of Public Prosecutions Bulelani Ngcuka, Chairpersons of the Chapter 9 institutions and Chairperson of the LAB, Judge Mlambo.
Thank you!
Issued by: Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Development
22 June 2004
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