BRIEFING BY ADVOCATE JOHNNY DE LANGE, MP,
DEPUTY MINISTER FOR JUSTICE AND
CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, TO THE PARLIAMENTARY PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON JUSTICE AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT, ON TUESDAY, 02 MAY 2006

Chairperson, Kgoshi Mokoena
Honourable Members

INTRODUCTION

I would like to thank you for this welcome opportunity to interact with members of this Select Committee and to share with you our Departmental priorities for this financial year.

We have had excellent interaction with your Committee during the past year and I trust that we will continue to work closely together during this year. As always the Department is always available to render whatever assistance is required to the Select Committee.

Honourable Members,
Next Monday we will gather in a joint sitting of Parliament to celebrate an important milestone in the young life of our democracy - the tenth anniversary of our Constitution. When we as public representative, on behalf of the people of South Africa, adopted our new Constitution on 8 May 1996, as the supreme law of the Republic, we laid the foundations for a democratic and transformed society. We all also set out to improve the quality of life of all citizens and build a united and democratic South Africa able to take its rightful place as a sovereign state in the family of nations.

In line with our Constitutional objectives and the values underpinning the Constitution, our focus has been on steering the department towards the stated goal of delivering accessible, speedy and cost effective quality justice services.

Chairperson,
I believe that it is important that we use an occasion like this to remind ourselves that our mandate requires that we remain a needs-focused department and that access to justice for all remains one of our main goals. In the past few years we have done much in this regard, but in the next three years we will intensify and synergise our efforts to ensure we address our stated objectives. In this regard, some highlights are:

We will finalise the establishment of High Courts for Mpumalanga and Limpopo over the next few years and this will greatly enhance the rights of the people in these provinces as they will be in a position to exercise their rights within reasonable proximity of their areas of residence. Currently, the people in these two provinces have to travel to Gauteng, to the Transvaal Provincial Division to receive much needed services.

We will focus on bringing justice services closer to all with specific attention on rural and township communities. In addition to various new courts being built, we will ensure that in the next three years all dilapidated facilities are renovated, refurbished and extended through the Repair and Maintenance Programme (RAMP). Access to justice is however much more than just improving infrastructure and consequently we have also embarked on initiatives to inform the public of their rights and the services available to them. Community outreach activities will be conducted on a continuous basis, especially in previously disadvantaged areas.

The re-demarcation process is to be finalised, but the recently passed Constitution Twelfth Amendment Act which abolished cross-boundary municipalities has huge implications for the courts. One of these implications is a need to rationalise the courts around the 17 cross-boundary municipalities to ensure effective coordination and access to services. Adjustments to the affected magisterial districts will be re-proclaimed during 2006/7 financial year. The process will also result in new courts being built in densely populated areas such as Soweto and Mamelodi, while mobile courts will be provided for far flung areas to alleviate the hardship of long distance travel to access services by local communities.

THE JUDICIARY

Honourable Members,
It is of critical importance that we continue to strengthen and support the judiciary and enable it to carry out its work efficiently. It is with this mind that we have introduced to Parliament a number of important Bills. I want to assure this committee that the proposed legislation is intended to support the judiciary and to ensure improved access to prompt and cost effective justice. We are also continuing to engage the judiciary in meaningful dialogue about ways to improve the functioning, accessibility and transformation of the justice system.

DEPARTMENTAL ISSUES

Chairperson,
During the past year my Department has welcomed a new Director-General, Adv Menzi Simelane and Or Khotso De Wee, appointed in the newly created position'
of Chief Operations Officer. They have been at the heart of our efforts in developing our new Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) for the financial years 2005/06 - 2008/09. The MTSF outlines how the Department will enhance its organisational efficiency to deliver on the goals I mentioned earlier.

The Minister supports the MTSF initiatives and also affirm the organisational redesign the Director-General has initiated - it is clearly been done to address challenges relating to improving efficiency and breaking down the functioning in silos. This re-evaluation of the organisational design was done mainly in order to ensure the successful implementation of the Department's Medium Term Strategy Framework. In this regard, Public Education and Communication, Human Resources, Information and Systems Management and Office of the Chief Financial Officer have been merged into a single branch known as Corporate Services. The Chief Operations Officer, Or Khotso De Wee is currently the Acting-DOG of Corporate Services and this post has been advertised. Mr. Hassen Ebrahim, formerly the DOG Information and Systems Management, is the new DOG Masters of the High Court and Ms Jacqui Ngeva formerly of HR is now the Head of the Justice College. The DOGs of Court Services, Legislative and Constitutional Development and State Legal Advisory Services have not been affected.

The roles of Regional Heads have also been reviewed. They will serve as the Department's representatives in their respective provinces. Their responsibilities will include amongst others strategy and operation at provincial level. All Regional Office staff will report to their respective Regional Heads. Posts for Regional Heads in Gauteng, North West and KwaZulu-Natal will be created and advertised. The DG and COO will provide more detail regarding the restructuring process which is to be accompanied by a skills audit.

Critical also is that the Department obtained National Treasury approval to writeoff irrecoverable agency services debts (apartheid era debt) from departmental savings, in respect of the former TBVC States and Self-governing Territories. "Agency Services" relates to services rendered by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development on behalf of other departments. R 1 01 million was written off during the 2003/04 financial year and R 89 million in the 2004/05 financial year.

The Department received additional allocations of R500 million and R1 300 million over the new MTEF period for improving access to justice services and to increase capacity. This include allocations for improving access to the Guardian's Fund, alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, facilities management, legal representation for children, increasing prosecutorial capacity, building management capacity, integrated case flow management, witness protection and the asset forfeiture unit. These additional funds represent a significant contribution to the achievement of the department's strategic priorities, as defined by the measurable objectives for each of the spending programmes. In addition a substantial additional allocation was received in respect of judges' salaries (R 150 million over the MTEF period) and magistrates' salaries (R362 million over the MTEF period).

Monies held in Trust

Honourable Members,
Monies-in- Trust still remains a problem area. Significant progress has been made, albeit within a manual system that is antiquated, inadequate and absolutely unacceptable as a tool to sound financial management. The only answer we have is the Monies-in-Trust Public-Private partnership (PPP). On 30 August 2005, the Director-General and Chief Operations Officer gave the Chief Financial Officer the go-ahead for the Monies-in-Trust Public-Private partnership. The cautionary notice which was issued on 12 May 2005 about the Public-Private partnership has consequently been lifted. The Office of the CFO will issue the request for price and public sector organisations, such as the South African Post Office will be invited to address bidders on their offerings. Once the bidders have submitted their prices, the Department will have to decide whether the public private partnership initiative is affordable. Should this be the case, a tender may be awarded and a public-private partnership agreement be concluded.

Legal Advisory Services to the State

We want to ensure that all state departments utilise the services of the State Law Advisers by 2007/08. The department's resolution to centralise all legal services in the legal advisory services component has gained momentum. (Previously legal services were provided by different branches.) The target to finalise 90 per cent of all opinions, litigation matters and agreements, and draft legislation was met. Reliance on private sector legal advisory services by government departments again reduced by more than 4 per cent in 2005/06. Increased cooperation between the state attorneys and state law advisors will see even less reliance on such services. A constitutional litigation unit was established in 2004 to centralise constitutional litigation for and on behalf of government departments and to reduce reliance on the private sector.

State Attorneys

State Attorneys now brief State Law Advisers to render opinions to client departments, a brief which normally would have been outsourced. This saves a considerable amount of money. We are also in the process of filling the new post of Chief Litigation Officer. This position will fulfill our requirements to deal with the development of a litigation strategy for the state

Court Services

Chairperson,

We are streamlining management and operations at the courts through Re Aga Boswa ("We are rebuilding"). The project has institutionalised a new customerfocused court management model that ensures that court managers are entrusted with managing courts and that judges and magistrates invest more time in their judicial work. Court managers' positions have been created for all the district and High Courts to create management capacity at court level. The court managers are coordinated by area court managers who in turn are coordinated by the Regional Head of each province. The filling of these court and area court managers will be completed during this financial year. The creation of management capacity will enhance administrative support to the judicial processes and this will result in increased productivity.

Vulnerable Groups

We will continue to prioritise deliverables relating to access to justice for vulnerable groups, children, the disabled and the elderly. I want to stress that these are crucial deliverables in my view and they will receive specific focused attention. Some of the aspects relevant in this regard are that we will ensure

·
- Implementation of relevant legislation and other policy instruments, for example, the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act and intensifying the programme to deal with Sexual Offences and Family Law matters

- Prioritisation of Child Justice and all cases involving children, especially those in prison awaiting trial

- Ensure assistance from Prosecutors and from Public Defenders for child

maintenance cases
- Enforce the right of children to receive support from earning parents
- Development and implementation of the Service Charter for Victims of

Crime will continue with an increased focus on creating awareness and educating victims about their rights and the services they can expect at courts.

Conclusion

Once again it was a pleasure to interact with members of this committee and wish you well for te year ahead.

Thank you.