Sound financial management of South Africa’s courts was essential to maintain public respect and confidence in the country’s justice system, the New National Party (NNP) said on Monday.
For this reason, a Special Investigating Unit (SIU) probe — authorised by President Thabo Mbeki — into allegations of misappropriation of funds and corruption, could not happen soon enough, said NNP justice spokesperson Carol Johnson.
Hopefully SIU head Willie Hofmeyr and his unit would be given sufficient staff and capacity to perform its investigation, she said in a statement.
Business Day newspaper reported on Monday that Mbeki had authorised the SIU to look into the financial affairs of 40 magistrates’ courts around the country.
This followed criticism by the auditor general of the way the justice department was being run, and an internal investigation into allegations of fraud and mismanagement.
According to the justice department, millions of rands belonging to the state were unaccounted for in the 40 identified courts, and it wanted to recover the money, the report said.
Johnson said while the investigation was a reactive measure, more should be done to pro-actively build financial management capacity within the courts and within the justice department.
The foreword to the Public Finance Management Act stated that the Act promoted the objective of good financial management to maximise delivery.
”Nowhere is this more crucial than in our justice system; if justice and sound financial management is not seen to be upheld in our courts, the public’s respect and confidence in the courts and in the justice system suffers greatly.”
Where instances of financial misconduct were discovered, swift action, in the form of disciplinary proceedings and criminal proceedings, should be taken.
”Furthermore, the department should respond by making the amount of funds involved known and also whether more courts will be added to the investigation,” Johnson said. – Sapa