Phillipi 27 November 1999
Honourable Judges of the Cape High Court,
The Honourable Mayor of Cape Town, Miss Noma India Mfeketho,
Esteemed Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
I feel very much honoured to be part of this historic event of the opening of this branch court that will for the first time in the history of the Western Cape afford indigent members of a previously disadvantaged communities direct access to justice.
This court will also impact directly on service delivery in terms of civil and criminal justice as well maintenance matters to the communities of Nyanga, Gugulethu and Phillipi, where the population has grown to over half a million over the last ten years.
I say so because what brought me here today is a far cry from the dilapidated buildings, leaking roofs and overcrowded cells, me and my colleagues saw when we visited some courts around the country some few months ago.
In fact it is what I set out to do when we saw the sorry state of some of our court's infrastructure and vowed to continue to incorporate community outreach programmes and address the need for proper accommodation and other facilities in our courts, especially in the previously marginalised areas within the Department's budgetary constraints as a priority to boost staff morale, creativity, contribute to local economic empowerment by getting emerging local business people involved in the building of the courts.
However, if our vision is to meet the challenges of assisting the Government in the creation of a stable society, we will have to now, more than ever before, hand in hand with local communities and business groups with their hearts in the right place, work full steam towards the establishment of a legitimate, accessible transparent, representative and accountable administration of Justice capable of correctly addressing violence, crime and ensuring that a new culture based on the respect for Human Rights is promoted and that those rights are adequately protected and rendered justiciable.
Ladies and Gentlemen this is a tall order that needs all our concerted efforts in order to instil and maintain public confidence in the justice system so as to dispel the notion prevalent in some sectors that we have not been effective in the fight against crime - particularly serious crime and crime against women and children.
A lot has happened since the advent of a non-racial democratic South Africa in April 1994, from the merging of the fragmented and separate Justice Departments that operated like silos into a single entity, to the recent legislative and administrative initiatives like the:
In order to facilitate the transformation of the Department - we are constantly revisiting our strategic planning process so that we do not lose sight of the intended beneficiaries of our industry - the people of South Africa, especially the previously marginalised communities.
Our core business is our courts which provide the interface between the public and the Justice system as the public first part of call.
Our primary challenge is therefore, to provide well managed courts, both civil and criminal - which are user friendly, service orientated and run according to the values of the constitution in order to give credence to the old adage. "Justice must not only be done, it must be seen to be done".
The challenges we are faced with are indeed great as we inherited a system which over many years has been strategically underdeveloped so as to meet the needs of apartheid, capitalist domination and exploitation and to deny access to justice to the majority of historically marginalised communities.
Our success or failure in relation to the goals that we set for ourselves as a Department will be measured by the strides we will take in increasing and upgrading the number of courts and other structures that administer justice, their capacity and their distribution so that more people have access to justice.
Major works building services including repair and renovation services were commenced in more than 18 courts buildings throughout the country in this current year. Some of the services I have mentioned also include repair and renovation services.
In order to make our courts user-friendly, secure and boost staff morale we also installed security measures at 45 Magistrate's Courts throughout the country.
We are working very closely with the Department of Public Works and suitable sites will be identified for the building of new courts in areas that are worse off like, Tembisa in the East Rand, Gauteng.
My Department is also involved in the National Community Safety Centre Programme which comprises of the four core Departments within the Criminal Justice system, viz. South African Police Services, Department of Correctional Services and the Department of welfare, as well as the Department of Health. This programme is aimed at bringing services rendered by these Departments to communities where these services do not exist or are not easily accessible in our integrated fashion through the introduction of Community Safety Centres.
A total number of no less than 15 Community Safety Centres projects throughout the whole country are either in the process of being approved or in planning for the near future.
We have also embarked on planning for the automation of our court system. This is being done with our strategic allies in the business sector who are providing us with much needed financial assistance by adopting certain courts and providing us with much needed assistance with computers and funds for refurbishment and other needed facilities in our courts.
I would like to thank them for their generosity and also take this opportunity to call on other role players in the corporate world to emulate their initiatives by fulfilling their social responsibilities in a similar way.
Lastly, ladies and gentlemen I would like to call upon all of you to work together with relevant government structures so as to bring to our end the impermissible level of crime and violence against women and children.
Before I conclude ladies and gentlemen, I wish to make the following announcements:
Now this is your court. Look after the building. Be proud of it. I encourage you to participate in the administration of justice in this court through structures such as lay assessors creation of justice forums, and Maintenance Forums.
I wish you all a peaceful and happy Christmas and prosperous new year as we approach the new millennium.
I thank you