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Justice spells out its plans
31/01/2006 20:38 - (SA)
Cape Town - Renovating and erecting courts, training justice officials, and passing long-outstanding legislation were among the priorities of the justice department for 2006, said Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla on Tuesday.
Six new courts are to be opened and nine upgraded in the year, she told parliament's justice portfolio committee.
In the next three years, all dilapidated facilities are to be renovated, refurbished and extended.
The minister emphasised the role of training in transforming the judiciary, and said the justice college would be turned into a centre of learning for all legal personnel and administrative staff in the department and the extended justice family.
It was important for transformation to be led by the judiciary itself, she told the committee.
She sensed there was progressive leadership with the will and commitment to come up with plans for transformation and training.
"But, we couldn't wait for their plans to unfold. We in the government are under pressure to improve delivery," said the minister. There was real urgency on the matter of training, particularly of female candidate judges.
Judicial independence a major issue
As for capacity building, Mabandla announced additional staff would be appointed for the national prosecuting authority.
This was to "meet the objective of assigning two prosecutors to a court for an efficient prosecuting service," said her statement, issued at the briefing.
Among the legislation to be passed were the Constitution Fourteenth Amendment Bill and the Superior Courts Bill - criticised in some quarters for threatening judicial independence.
Mabandla said: "Another bill which I consider to be of paramount importance for enactment this year is the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill dealing with the review of the law relating to sexual offences."
Others on the list included the Traditional Courts Interim Bill, the Customary Law of Succession Amendment Bill, and the Magistrates Courts Amendment Bill relating to the disposal of immovable property of poor people to cover insignificant debts.
Apartheid criminals 'a delicate issue'
On the prosecution of apartheid-era political criminals, the minister said guidelines should be before the cabinet this year.
It was a delicate issue, she said, but also an urgent one that would be dealt with as soon as possible.
During question time, committee member Koos van der Merwe said he was "extremely disappointed" that Mabandla had failed to mention the "literally hundreds" of applications for pardons and reprieves sent to her department by people "languishing" in jail for apparent political crimes.
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