Better access to justice for Limpopo communities

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Makhado – Access to justice will soon be improved for Limpopo residents as the construction of the first ever Limpopo seat of the High Court nears completion.

This was announced by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha during an imbizo with residents of Sinthumule and Kutama in Madombidzha village, outside Makhado, on Wednesday.

“We are here to report back on progress made in government’s programme of action but also to take your concerns and suggestions on how best we can cooperate to take South Africa forward.

“We are very pleased to announce that construction of the Limpopo seat of the High Court in Polokwane is almost 100% complete. We will open this court before the end of this year.

“We are a caring government. Very soon, you will be accessing justice at your doorstep,” Minister Masutha said to applause from residents.

The Minister, who hails from the Vhembe district in Limpopo, said next week, the Judicial Service Commission will consider the position of the head of the new High Court, among others.

“We will be doing interviews and seconding a number of experienced judges from other courts across the country and this is going to happen in the next few months.

“We are very pleased because this is going to be the first High Court built since the dawn of democracy,” he said.

Currently, Limpopo and Mpumalanga do not have dedicated High Courts of their own. As a result, these areas had to use the High Courts in north Gauteng and Pretoria.

Minister Masutha said the Mpumalanga High Court will be completed next year. He said construction is proceeding smoothly.

In 2013, President Jacob Zuma signed the Superior Courts Bill into law. This opened the way for all the 13 High Courts to be rationalised into a single High Court with a functional division of the court established in each province.

Minister Masutha also visited the Tshilwavhusiku Magistrate’s Court which services the whole Sinthumule/Kutama area with only one small courtroom and a maintenance office.

Chief Rudzani Sinthumule of Sinthumule settlement said: “We are happy that very soon, we will have our own High Court in our province. There is no better way of moving this country forward than cooperation between residents, traditional leaders and government working together.

“We want government leaders to visit our area all the time … I want to urge the Minister to consider the importance of revamping and expanding our local Magistrate’s Court.”

The chairperson of the Sinthumule/Kutama Policing Sector Forum, David Netshituni, said: “We are glad that the Minister came to interact with us today. As residents, we have a good relationship with the Tshilwavhusiku police but our main concern is that [when] criminals are arrested, they are released … without an explanation.

“On several occasions, we’ve tried to secure meetings with the office of the local magistrate’s office but to no avail. Now that we’ve raised our frustrations to the Minister, we hope that we will now work together.”

The Minister also urged the community to play an active role in curbing gender based violence.

“In order to win the fight against domestic violence, we need to work as a collective and it will require a lot of hard work. As a young man, you don’t prove how strong you are by beating women, but you prove that by going to school as education is the key to success.”

Access to basic services

Minister Masutha said government is striving to create easier access to all services, and not only justice.

“We don’t want people to travel long distances to access government services. So the message of this government is clear: [we should] all have access to water, health services, housing, electricity, roads, education and jobs.”

The six-day National Imbizo Focus Week was launched on Tuesday in Mahikeng. It builds on the successful interactions of the Imbizo Focus Week of July 2014.

Izimbizo are a direct, unmediated communication platform for communities to interact with elected public representatives.

The Imbizo Focus Week will provide senior government officials with the opportunity to assess progress made on government’s priority programmes. - SAnews.gov.za