Cape Town – Less than two percent of the 1 294 acts passed by Parliament since 1994 have been declared unconstitutional by the Constitutional Court, the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Jeff Radebe, said today.
“Contrary to the widely spread belief that this administration is acting against the Constitution, it is important to note that since 1994, the Constitutional Court has declared only 17 provisions of different acts of Parliament unconstitutional,” Radebe told media in a briefing before his Budget Vote speech.
He said the independence and impartiality of the judiciary had been bolstered by the setting up of the Office of the Chief Justice as a separate institution from his department, through the passing of the Superior Courts Bill by Parliament.
The bill must still be signed off into law by President Jacob Zuma before it comes into effect.
Plans to roll out new courts
Radebe also today revealed plans to roll out new courts as well as the setting up of sexual offences courts.
He said 57 regional courts across all provinces had been identified for designation as sexual offences courts.
Earlier this year, gender activists welcomed plans to re-open the dedicated courts, which were shut in 2008.
A separate budget had been set aside in the department’s 2013 medium-term expenditure framework to increase the capacity of these courts and regional courts in general, said Radebe.
Yesterday, Radebe opened the Ntuzuma Magistrate’s Court, bringing to 43 the number of new courts the government has built since 1994.
The Limpopo High Court is scheduled for competition next month, while the construction of the Mpumalanga High Court is due to start in July.
The department will also build six new courts over the next five years.
He said the department was also on track to establish a small claims court in all of the country’s 387 magisterial districts, with 268 small claims courts having been set up so far.
Gauteng now had small claims courts in each magisterial district and Mpumalanga was the next province on track to having small claims court in each magisterial district.
The department has also upgraded 24 branch courts in rural villages and townships, with the remaining 65 branch courts earmarked for upgrade gradually in line with the National Development Plan’s Vision 2030.
Improving payments of beneficiaries
To deal with the increasing volume of maintenance applications – which presently amount to 200 000 a year – the department was in the process of decentralising the payments of beneficiaries, Radebe said.
To improve the payments of beneficiaries, the department had introduced an electronic fund transfer system at 319 magistrate’s courts.
Radebe said since the backlog courts were introduced on 1 November 2006, a total of 57 668 of the 82 271 cases had been finalised as of 31 March 2013, with the remainder of cases either withdrawn (21 932) or transferred to the high courts (2 671).
Combatting corruption
Turning to corruption, Radebe said the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) had 25 active proclamations – 10 arising from incidents involving national government, seven from provincial government incidents, six from municipalities and two from state-owned enterprises.
He said investigations relating to seven of the proclamations were finalised in the 2012/13 year.
The proclamations relate to the investigation of 481 incidents of serious corruption involving more than 750 persons, which were recorded during the 2012/13 year.
Meanwhile, the Asset Forfeiture Unit completed forfeitures related to 302 cases for the past financial year, totalling R118.4 million in confiscated assets.
Radebe said the unit recorded a success rate of 94%.
Transformation of the judiciary
He said the department was making inroads in the transformation of the judiciary, with black judges now making up 61% of all judges.
However, he said of the 311 judges appointed since 1994, the number of white male judges appointed during this time outnumbered women judges appointed to the bench by 88 to 76, respectively.
He added that of the judicial establishment, just 76 of the 239 judges were women.
“We will continue to implement innovative ways of empowering women to challenge for seats in our judicial benches and other critical positions in the justice sector,” he said.
He said as part of implementation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) recommendations, reparations continue to be paid out of the President’s Fund.
So far, 16 721 beneficiaries have been paid, with 111 still remaining to be compensated, he said. – SAnews.gov.za
