In true African culture, an august event like this is blessed from above whenever it is preceded by rain, especially in this friendly province of the Eastern Cape as we once again put to action our noble concept of access to justice.

Today we are officially opening this brand new Gelvandale Magistrates Court. Underpinning our mission is to ensure accessible justice to all our people without exception or discrimination. As you will know, the history of our beloved country is intertwined with the struggle for justice.

As the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, we are at the heart of ensuring that the letter and spirit of our Constitution finds resonance in the daily lived experiences of our people. Ultimately the law as flowing from our Constitution is the final arbiter on all disputes.

As the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, we have identified two main special focus areas in our Medium Term Strategic Framework for 2011/16. Firstly it is the improvement of access to justice services, specifically to people living in townships and rural areas.

Secondly it is to promote and implement a variety of initiatives in turn aimed at the promotion and protection of the rights of all vulnerable groups.

Therefore construction of this brand new court and the rehabilitation and maintenance of existing courts in general is significant to the realisation of the goal of the department of taking justice to the people. The building of the new courts also confirms the commitments of the department to redress the inequality of the past.

Addressing the injustices and imbalances of the past does not at all mean neglecting any part of our country with regards to developing. Our interpretation of correcting the imbalances of the past finds expression in our endeavours to integrate the various human settlements that were segregated by the apartheid regime.

In our point of view, redressing the past imbalances will continue to be relevant for as long as the apartheid engineered backlogs are still evident in our communities. For as long as the default lines of poverty and wealth are defined in terms of race and gender, it is for so long that we will continue to create a non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous society.

It would be a huge injustice and betrayal to the legacy of the recently departed former President Nelson Mandela, Martin Thembisile Chris Hani who was killed by some racists this month 21 years ago and Solomon Kalushi Mahlangu whom the apartheid regime sent to the gallows at the tender age of mere 22 years old, also this month 35 years ago.

We are also inspired by many other countless heroes and heroines, some known and some unknown yet history demands that we know them and celebrate their contribution of our freedom and democracy.

We are inspired by the fact that 20 years after we inaugurated Nelson Mandela as the first President of our democratic Republic, we still continue on the miracle path towards reversing the more than 350 years legacy of colonialism and over 4 decades of apartheid misrule. Often it is said when things go wrong that so and so is turning in his or her grave. But today as we buttress the justice system through this court, all those who died for human rights, freedom and democracy are smiling in their graves. We have confounded the doomsayers and we will confound today’s doomsayers who predict a calamity for our vibrant democracy.

Political contests naturally present distractors healthy for any democracy worth its salt, but as the ruling party we are inspired by the founding President of our Republic when he said he noticed that after successfully climbing one mountain, he then realised there were many other mountains to be conquered.

Ladies and gentlemen;

Gelvandale Magistrates’ Court was proclaimed on the 01 November 1976 and is currently a branch court of Port Elizabeth Magistrates’ Court. This court is situated in Northern part of Port Elizabeth. This area of Helenvale was declared a Presidential Node, meaning it was earmarked for rapid development, during the tenure of former President of South Africa, President Thabo Mbeki.

We are confident that this court will be part of the broader socio-economic resolution of the challenges facing this area, amongst others which include unemployment, domestic violence, drug abuse, and gangsterism, the latter with reported drug turf wars amongst over 17 gangs. We call upon the community of Gelvandale to rally behind the task team established to deal with the scourge of gangsterism in the area.

We come here today with the affirmation that the law is not the panacea of all social ills, but it is nonetheless the line that none amongst our communities must dare cross and this being our final statement as the State on the meaning of what is wrong or right. Whilst therefore we will continue in our endeavor to create jobs and to encourage the moral regeneration of our communities at the helm of which are various religious groups, we will nonetheless show zero tolerance on crime. We would hereby send the sternest message to criminals that they have no place to hide in our Republic. We are encouraged by the aggressive stance displayed by our judiciary, which was evident when Xolile Tose who was sentenced to life imprisonment here in Port Elizabeth for brutally raping a six year old girl for 15 hours.

I am glad to announce that the girl is receiving treatment for injuries resulting from the incident, as organised by the Department of Health and Social development. This intervention by the two departments is informed by our commitment as government to ensure that victims of sexual violence are taken care of even after the incident in a bid to turn victims into survivors.

Distinguished guests;

This court building was renovated and finalised in 2012, but could not start operating because the security infrastructure was not yet in place. The services were resumed again on the 17 March 2014.

There are three court rooms at the Gelvandale Magistrates’ Court and all of them deal with criminal matters. This court also soon boosts of family, maintenance and domestic violence services will be introduced from 02 May 2014. This court will serve the northern areas from which originate over 70% of maintenance and domestic violence cases, and those include Gelvandale, Helenvale and Bethelsdorp. The Court will service cases from the Gelvandale and Bethelsdorp Police Stations.

Our aim of being here today is in the context of our celebration of 20 years of freedom and democracy that we demonstrate the department’s commitment to restoring the dignity of those who were denied the right to accessible and fair judicial processes in the past. Our aim is also to increase awareness, educate and encourage the public to utilise justice services and take ownership of this revamped court building. We therefore appeal to the communities that this court will serve, including all stakeholders.

We will continue to strive for mutual support and strengthened partnerships with civil society organisation as working together we can indeed move South Africa forward to the ideals that Nelson Mandela and other activists struggled for during their entire lives. As the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, we will continuously avail ourselves for information-sharing between the department and the community. That is why all our openings of court facilities are intertwined with community imbizos so that we share information on our endeavor for accessible justice to all.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen;

Amongst the information we will continue to share are updates on the transformation programme so that all our people across the length and breadth of our country are equally informed. Amongst these are the developments with regards the Civil Justice Reform Programme (CJRP) which was approved by Cabinet in 2010. This programme will aim to provide a speedy, affordable, simple and accessible civil justice system for the adjudication of civil disputes by our courts and it is important that all our people are versed with regards its operation.

This is because an improved civil justice system will guarantee equal benefit and protection of the law to all our people as required by our Constitution. The justice system which was wrongly designed to favour the strong and the rich to the detriment of the weak and the poor has no place under our constitutional dispensation. It is for this reason that as Government we are leaving no stone unturned in our endeavour to reverse the legacy of inequality and deprivation in order that all people of South Africa must enjoy the fruits of our hard-earned democracy.

As many would know, the monetary jurisdiction of our district courts has stood at R100 000 since 1998. Our investigation has shown that despite the establishment of the Civil Regional Courts in 2008 when civil jurisdiction was conferred on the Regional Courts for the first time, most of the civil matters above R100 000 are still being taken to the High Courts. This is despite the high cost of litigation in the High Courts. We continue to engage with the Judiciary, and that being the Regional Court Presidents, to devise means to ensure that Regional Courts are used optimally.

As far as monetary jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Courts is concerned, we have deemed it appropriate to increase the District Courts’ threshold to R200 000 whilst that of Regional Courts is fixed at R400 000. Notices giving effect to this determination were published in the Gazette earlier this year and the date of effect is 1st June 2014. The increase in the jurisdiction of Magistrates’ Courts comes against the backdrop of the increase to the jurisdiction of the Small Claims Courts to R15 000, 00 which was also gazetted earlier this year.

It is worth noting that Small Claims Courts have increased to 293, of which 30 were established in the current financial year alone. A total of 1630 Small Claims Court commissioners, most of them legal practitioners, preside in these courts on a pro bono basis, which is to say for free of charge. We continue to applaud their selfless and tireless contribution which without doubt helps give effect to access to justice to all.

And as we have also indicated before, the court-connected mediation made by the Rules Board for Courts of Law will be implemented from 1 August 2014. These rules will be implemented incrementally, commensurate with the capacity that is being built at our courts for this purpose. Through these rules, most civil cases will be diverted to mediation thereby alleviating our clogged court rolls.

Mediation also helps avoid the huge costs in legal fees. An added advantage is that the language used is often the language spoken by the parties and that the dispute is usually thus resolved in a peaceful and reconciliatory manner, resulting in a win-win situation. The successful implementation of these rules at the Magistrates’ Courts will produce a useful blueprint to guide the extension of this adventure to all our courts throughout the country.

Ladies and gentlemen,

As I conclude allow me to thank you profusely for honouring this event as your mere presence bears testament that this is not only a departmental endeavour but a shared responsibility. Indeed democracy imposes that responsibility on all of us to make it work and I am confident that with this kind of collaboration there is nothing that will stop us from collectively moving South Africa forward!

I thank you!