Days after a South Gauteng High Court judge’s letter was published in a daily newspaper lambasting the state of the Johannesburg high court, the Department of Justice has reacted, saying that major projects valued at millions are under way to improve conditions.
In a statement released on Thursday, Justice spokesperson Tlali Tlali said the government was committed to ensuring that the courts functioned properly and that “the integrity of the department must not be compromised by inaccurate information placed in the public domain by others.”
The statement follows a letter written by Judge Kathy Satchwell, who warned that the high court in Johannesburg was slowly “creaking to a halt” due to bad management.
“No one with any experience of this high court can dispute that the entire system has been creaking to a halt over the last few years,” Satchwell said in the letter published in Business Day on Tuesday.
In her letter Satchwell backed comments by Judge Neels Claassen that the court’s library “no longer functions to the professional standard expected in a high court”.
She also said the air conditioning at the court operated “erratically, if at all, with the result that there is insufficient oxygen in courtrooms requiring concentration and intellectual endeavour” and that the elevators “frequently don’t work” and the “lavatories are often unfit for use”.
She said Tlali had no real knowledge of the state of affairs at the court.
Budget restraints
However, Tlali said on Thursday: “We did not for a moment suggest that the South Gauteng High Court and its library are in perfect state and condition.”
He said the department was not immune from budget restraints that other government departments faced.
“The court is not dysfunctional. We are aware of the need to effect improvements at the court.”
An example of this was a R29-million project to upgrade the air-conditioning, which was expected to be completed at the end of the month.
R333-million had been allocated to improving the courts, which included the building of an additional 18 court rooms and 16 judge’s chambers. This work was expected to be completed by the end of 2012.
Tlali said two new lifts for the judges were installed in 2008 and the department had secured the services of provider of off-site storage facilities in a bid “to bring better management of our records”.
This system would be rolled out nationally, starting with the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court, followed by the South and North Gauteng High Courts.
Tlali pointed out that all judges currently had access to an online library at any hour of the day.
“We have to make tough decisions as we do not have a bottomless purse. We are however committed to providing the necessary resources to all our courts as we do not need the next person to remind us of the important role that courts and judiciary play.”
The director general of the department held regular meetings with the heads of courts on the problems and issues faced by the courts.
One such meeting took place last week, Tlali said. – Sapa