PRETORIA, 15 NOVEMBER 1999
For me, the significance of today's workshop is that it reflects a new way of thinking in our Department - a more strategic approach to the way we do things. It reflects a determination to establish an integrated and holistic approach to the issues facing us. It reflects, too, recognition of the absolute necessity for a turnaround in the way we approach and administer Justice and in the way that our actions impact on the lives of the communities that we serve.
However, before we get too carried away with the new way of thinking and doing, I want to reflect on some of the important issues that might impact on our Justice environment. I want us to understand and recognise these issues because they have the capacity, without any action at all on our part, to determine our fate in the court system and indeed to shape our destiny within the continuum that is known to us as the Integrated Justice System (IJS).
The framework against which we need to look at these key developments are the six fundamental components that make up the Process of the IJS:
The first two are, of course, the direct responsibility of the SAPS. The next component steps lie within the province of Justice:
Finally, the last two components are the direct responsibility of the Department of Correctional Services:
Together, these six elements make up the active core of the IJS.
Now let's look at development issues that can and indeed should impact on our Courts and our ability to carry out our mandate, which is the provision of access to Justice for all:
What does this all tell us? It tells us that as the SAPS and prosecutorial services respond to the President's call to tackle and master the crime problem and as their efficiencies are improved through increased training and enhanced resource utilisation, we can fully expect the number of cases coming to trial to increase.
What do we know about our own ability to manage the current case load in our courts- let alone the ability to deal with an increased number of cases?
What do we know about how our system of management and control are able to deal with current pressures?
And then also,
The very strong message here is that we dare not tinker with the current system. We cannot continue to burden our administrators with new ideas or testing new concepts while we are in this condition. It will not help to tweak the variables here and there. What we need, ladies and gentlemen, is a reinvention of the technical, training and human resource infrastructure of our justice department
Our cluster's delivery imperatives are awesome. We thus hae to realign the organisation into a structure that facilitates delivery and enhances accountability. Each person within the justice architecture needs to know precisely what is required of him/her and they need to be given the necessary skill and authority to perform their duties in the most effective manner possible.
We need to redirect spending away from entrenched and often undirected activities and focus it on our core functions. We must reduce cumbersome administrative structures and redirect those resources at the operational (ie delivery) areas of our Criminal and Civil justice systems - the courts. We need to manage the budget and expenditure in a way that reflects ministerial policy.
In short, expenditure trends should mirror the objectives and desired outcomes of executive policy and any variance between the two must be adjusted and brought back into line.
The Minister has said it before and I will say it again: Justice is in the "courts business". This is where the public interfaces with and experiences Justice. And this is where we, as a Department, will be judged - by that harshest of critics - the taxpaying citizen. The court room is where Justice must not only be done; it must be seen to be done. It is in the courtroom that we will give effect to the notion that justice will prevail over injustice. It is in the courtroom that we will make real the objectives of te legislative and constitutional frameworks that we hae provided. It is in our courts that we must give meaning to the democratic and human rights principles that form the basis of our beloved constitution.
How can you as donors play a role in achieving the objectives of this Ministry's stated policy? You can ensure that every project funded by your money is directed at achieving the stated policy objectives. Let us all be sure that every penny of the money allocated to us by the fiscus and those funds generously given to us by donors, is spent on projects that achieve access to justice for all.
The restructuring and re-engineering of Justice, which is essential both to responding positively to the changes and improvements taking place in other areas such as SAPS and the NDPP and to achieving our key mandate, is extremely complex. We no longer have the time or the capacity to permit focus on projects which are not going to help us achieve the essential objectives.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is a highly heterogeneous - even curious - entity. We have within our constellation those statutorily established and operationally independent structures which also desperately require transformation and reinvention. The Master's office is just one example of a structure that requires complete revision from its enabling legislation to its systems and accountability frameworks.
Similarly, the Legal Aid Board and the State Attorney's offices require massive restructuring and transformation. Key to the transformation of these structures will be issues related to their enabling legislative environments and the way in which they account to our Director General and their Accounting Officer.
However, the over-riding requirements for IJS and most particularly for Justice, as highlighted by the Mulweni Report, is the need for both a new IT infrastructure and a purpose -built Management Information System. The work required to put these two key components in place is under way, but we have a long way to go.
With them, our Department will be able to meet its obligations on a timely and efficient basis, for we will be able to manage and make discussions based on hard information and in real time.
Without them, the Department's directors and managers are restricted to comparatively gentle nudges in this direction or that.
I do not intend here to suggest that we have no capacity. We have within the Department a great wealth of knowledge. But unless we can find the way to convert that knowledge into action - first within the Department and then on a basis that is fully integrated with the other Departments within IJS - then we will be left with the tinkering, not with the fundamental changes required.
So, the temptation to spend money on peripheral projects must be denied. We must not be drawn into this trap - there is simply no room for error. On December 1 we are expected to provide the Department of Public Service Administration a revised and realigned organogram and an updated business plan for the short, medium and long term. That we can adequately meet this deadline is much in question. An integrated and concerted effort is underway by the Department's strategic management Team to meet this deadline. We hope that today's workshop will crystallise some of the issues that have to be dealt with and that the way forward will be a little clearer.