Report of the Portfolio
Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on the Jurisdiction of
Regional Courts Amendment Bill [B 48─2007] (National Assembly – sec 75),
dated 15 May 2008:
The Portfolio Committee on Justice and
Constitutional Development, having considered the Jurisdiction of Regional
Courts Amendment Bill [B 48─2007] (National Assembly – sec 75), reports
the Bill with amendments [B 48A─2007] as follows:
The Committee welcomes the Bill, which aims to extend jurisdiction in civil
matters, including divorce matters, to the Regional Courts. The Committee
trusts that this would be done in a manner that retains the sound
characteristics of the Divorce Courts, which are acclaimed as being
user-friendly, inexpensive and accessible, and that the broader adjudication of
civil matters by the Regional Courts would also be underscored by those
characteristics.
The Committee noted that the general objectives of the Bill appear to be
misunderstood by certain magistrates, most notably from within the ranks of the
District Court magistracy, in that the Bill is perceived to be aimed at
enhancing the careers of Regional Court Magistrates. However, the Committee is satisfied that the
Bill, once fully implemented, would not only enhance access to justice for all,
which is its primary objective, but would also contribute to enhancing
competence and career advancement opportunities for the magistracy as a whole.
The Committee expressed its concern regarding the capacity of the Department of
Justice and Constitutional Development to fully implement the Bill. The
Department presented a comprehensive implementation plan to the Committee, and
the Committee will be seeking to actively monitor the implementation of the
Bill and, for that purpose, requires six-monthly reports from the Department on
such implementation.
The Committee is further of the view that it would be prudent to adopt an
incremental approach to the implementation of the Bill. The provisions of the
Bill are carefully crafted in order to enable such an approach, and care should
be taken to prevent a situation where the system of the administration of
justice is expected to meet unrealistic expectations.
The Committee would like to caution that, whilst the provisions relating to
training in civil adjudication are sound in principle, training in itself does
not necessarily constitute an adequate mechanism to equip judicial officers to
deal with such matters. Sound jurisprudential qualities include a combination
of legal education, training, experience and individual aptitude. Care should
therefore be taken to ensure that only those magistrates, who are fit and
proper persons, in the broader sense, are appointed and/or designated to
exercise civil jurisdiction in the Regional Courts.
The Committee effected an amendment to the Bill in order to ensure, firstly,
that rules of court are made in order to enable the Regional Courts to exercise
their new extended civil jurisdiction effectively and efficiently and,
secondly, that those rules retain and build on the characteristics of the
current Divorce Court rules, in so far as those Courts are user-friendly,
inexpensive and accessible. The new rules must be made within six months of the
commencement of the Act and must be submitted to Parliament. The Committee
would like to stress that those rules should, as far as possible, result from a
consensus-seeking approach by including the relevant roleplayers.
The Committee would like to urge the Department to ensure that courts that are
presently under-utilised are made available for the adjudication of civil
matters as contemplated in the Bill.
The Committee received representations, through the public hearings on the
Bill, about the parlous state of some of the courts in
Report to be considered.