Concern was expressed in Parliament on Friday about a lack of synergy between different arms of the criminal justice system.
While more prosecutors were being appointed to match growing police numbers and arrests, the Legal Aid Board (LAB) was not given additional money to boost its number of criminal defenders, justice portfolio committee chairperson Fatima Chohan said.
There was an urgent need for an inter-sectoral discussion by the justice department, prosecutors, the judiciary, the LAB and the police, she told the National Assembly during the justice-budget vote.
”It [is] short-sighted for the judiciary at the higher level to opt out of the process of keeping statistics, as it is these that give us an objective sense of where the problems relating to backlogs, capacity problems and other shortcomings in the criminal justice system feature,” she said in a prepared presentation.
”It is only through mutual cooperation and commitment of all the role-players that the justice system will function optimally.”
Chohan said the high courts have improved their case finalisation rate by an average 10% from the previous financial year. But there was a 26% rise in the number of new cases in the high courts.
”This does not bode well for the common objective of clearing backlogs in the high courts.”
Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla said her department was conducting a study on the extent of backlogs at all courts countrywide.
This would be used to develop an integrated programme to rectify the situation.
”The programme, which we hope to implement soon, will entail, among others, the appointment of acting judges and magistrates from the ranks of retired judicial officers and practitioners to preside in these cases.”
The department received a total budget of R7,3-billion for the current financial year, of which R1,5-billion was allocated to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The NPA, Mabandla said, reached its target of finalising 5% more cases in the last financial year. The lower courts attained an ”excellent” conviction rate of 85%.
Chohan said the LAB was allocating a significant portion of its allocated budget to non-core and civil responsibilities, directing it away from criminal defence work.
For her part, Democratic Alliance MP Sheila Camerer expressed concern that nearly the same number of reported criminal cases were withdrawn before going to trial as the 350 000-odd convictions achieved.
She cited examples of alleged mismanagement in the justice department, and described as unwarranted interference a government review of the so-called Chapter 9 democracy watchdog institutions.
Camerer’s colleague Tertius Delport used the opportunity to lament what he termed unfair discrimination against whites.
He cited Magistrate’s Commission regulations in terms of which it was impossible for a white male candidate to be appointed as a magistrate.
”I appeal to the minister … to give meaningful content to the policy of transformation.”
Deputy Minister Johnny de Lange said he agreed with the main thrust of Delport’s argument. Any employment practice based solely on the race and gender of the candidate, to the exclusion of skill and expertise, was not authorised by law.
Inkatha Freedom Party MP Koos van der Merwe expressed concern about what he termed Mabandla’s failure to carry out her duties in areas such as eradicating court backlogs.
He called for Mabandla to be dismissed for failing to obey an instruction from President Thabo Mbeki to report on the status of nearly 400 presidential-pardon requests submitted by jailed IFP members.
The African Christian Democratic Party’s Steve Swart raised concern that the age of consent for sex was left at 16 years in the Sexual Offences Amendment Bill, due to serve before Parliament shortly.
It should be increased to 18, he told the National Assembly. — Sapa