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SELECT COMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN AND ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN BRIEFING 23 MAY 2012. CONTENTS. Introduction Mission, Vision, Principles and Values 2. Mandates Constitutional, Legislative and Policy 3. Strategic Goals

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  1. SELECT COMMITTEE ON SECURITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIC PLAN AND ANNUAL PERFORMANCE PLAN BRIEFING 23 MAY 2012

  2. CONTENTS • Introduction • Mission, Vision, Principles and Values • 2. Mandates • Constitutional, Legislative and Policy • 3. Strategic Goals • 4. Changes made in the current plans • 5. Strategic Objectives and Targets • Programme 1: Administration • Programme 2: Court Services • Programme 3: State Legal Services • 6. Challenges addressed and progress • 7. Attachments • Attachment 1: Indicators and Targets in the Annual Performance Plan 2012/13 2

  3. INTRODUCTION Vision A transformed and accessible justice system, which promotes and protects social justice, fundamental human rights and freedom. Mission We commit to provide transparent, responsive and accountable justice for all. Principles and Values Commitment to constitutional values and to a culture of human rights Promotion of the Rule of Law Batho Pele Good governance Ubuntu Professionalism and continuous improvement  Transparency 3

  4. MANDATES • The following mandates, amongst others, derive from the Constitution: • The administration of Chapter 8 of the Constitution (Courts and the administration of Justice) which entails, amongst others: • - The appointment of the judicial officers, their conditions of service, discipline and training; • - The establishment and functioning of the National Prosecuting Authority, the conduct of criminal proceedings, investigation of organised crime and corruption and the forfeiture of assets obtained through illicit means; • The rationalisation of all courts, their structures, composition, jurisdiction and laws applicable to courts: • - In this context, the Superior Courts and the Constitution 17th Amendment Bills which seek to give effect to the Constitutional Court as the apex court in the Republic; harmonise the jurisdictions of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Court of Appeal; and provide for the establishment of a single “High Court of South Africa” with various provincial divisions, each with a main seat in a province and local seats where this is necessary to enhance access to justice. • - The department’s Rationalisation of the Lower Courts’ Programme seeks to correct the old magisterial districts that are still based on defunct TBVC, self-governing states and old RSA territory. This Programme is two-pronged, namely: 1) the alignment of magisterial districts with provincial and municipal districts respectively; and 2) the rehabilitation of Branch Courts for re-designation into self-standing courts to provide full services, instead of being limited to the adjudication of criminal cases only, as is the case with Branch Courts. 4

  5. MANDATES • Legislative mandates • The department derives its statutory mandate from various pieces of legislation in the form of statutes and subordinate legislation. The following are categories of functions emanating from different legislative instruments that are relevant to the department. These are legislation providing for: • The establishment and functioning of the superior courts, magistrates’ courts, special courts of the status equivalent to either the high court or magistrate’s court, small claims courts and traditional courts; • The establishment and functioning of bodies and structures responsible for legal aid, law reform; and rules for the courts of law; • Technical support to Chapter Nine institutions (the Human Rights Commission Act, 1994, and thePublic Protector Act, 1994); • The appointment of the Master of the High Court and the administration of the Guardian’s Fund and deceased and insolvent estates; • The provision of legal advisory services to government; • The enforcement of people’s rights (the PAJA, PAIA and PEPUDA); and • The protection of vulnerable groups (the Child Justice Act, 2008; Sexual Offences and Related Matters Amendment Act, 2007; Maintenance Act, 1998 etc..) 5

  6. MANDATES • Policy mandates • (a) JCPS Cluster Delivery Agreement • The Minister has an executive responsibility of coordinating and leading the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster. Through its leadership of the cluster, the department monitors and coordinates the overall implementation of cluster strategies and activities. • The JCPS cluster continues to coordinate the implementation of the 8 strategic objectives of the Criminal Justice Systemin the Delivery Agreement as part of the criminal justice system’s reform • (b) Transformation of the judicial system • The transformation of the judicial system entails the following key programmes, amongst others: • Institutional reforms to strengthen the capacity of the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ): • To this end, the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Bill and the Superior Courts Bill seek to affirm the Chief Justice as the head of the judiciary, with the responsibility of developing and monitoring the implementation of norms and standards in respect of all courts. • Enabling the establishment of governance structures in the newly established OCJ: • Facilitate the establishment of human resource and financial management capacity; and • Assist with the establishment of systems, processes and controls. • Improved delivery of the judicial education programme through the South African Judicial Education Institute: • Provide an enabling environment for the South African Judicial Education Institute (SAJEI) to carry out its statutory mandate; and • Strengthen the governance structures of SAJEI 6

  7. MANDATES • Policy mandates (Cont’d) • (c)Transformation of State Legal Services • The transformation of legal services, both within the context of private legal services and legal services within Government, is located within broader initiatives on the transformation of the judicial system geared towards enhancing access to justice and deepening constitutional democracy. The Minister and the Department have released a discussion document on the Transformation of State Legal Services on 21 May 2012, which details plans to consolidate structures providing legal services to the State to enhance performance in this arena. • (d) The review of the civil justice system • Intermediate legislative interventions have been implemented to address some of the pressing gaps in the lower courts. These include: • The amendment of the Magistrates’ Courts Act, 1944, to extend civil and divorce jurisdiction to regional courts. • The Terms of Reference for the comprehensive review of the civil justice system have been finalised, and governance structures to commence with the review are being put in place in line with the resolutions of the July 2011 Access to Justice Conference. • (e) Language Policy • Pilot projects on the use of indigenous languages have been completed and roll-out of the policy is expected to begin in the 2013/14 financial year. 7

  8. STRATEGIC GOALS

  9. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS

  10. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS Framework for Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans, 2010 Strategic Plans identify important goals and objectives against which public institutions’ medium-term results can be measured and evaluated by Parliament, provincial legislatures and the public. Annual Performance Plans identify the performance indicators and targets that the institution will seek to achieve in the upcoming budget year. The DOJ & CD tabled the revised Strategic and Annual Performance Plans on the 7TH of March 2012. 10

  11. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS • In preparation for the Strategic Plan and the Annual Performance Plan, the following were taken into consideration: • Policy guidance from the Minister and Deputy Minister; • The centrality of the public as consumers of our services (Batho Pele); • Available resources; • Dedicated focus on improved organisational performance; • Needs of our partners to enable them to perform their functions (Prosecution and the Judiciary); and • Guidance from stakeholders namely, Auditor-General, National • Treasury, Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, and Parliament. 11

  12. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS • As we prepare the strategic plan and the annual performance plan, we are guided and respond to on-going requirements and guidelines on performance management, whilst meeting legal obligations and the need to comply with SMART principles. This results in the Department having to reconsider indicators. • In addition, the following are taken into account: • The external environment: • We are continuously engaging with our strategic plan and annual performance plan, taking into account our external environment, financial situation and growing demand for our services. • The internal environment: • We are continuously reassessing the department’s position in terms of skills, infrastructure, technologies and our ability to deliver services. • In particular, Parliament has expressed a desire for the Department to show the link between current indicators and old ones to enable proper accountability by the Department and enable clear areas of oversight by Parliament. • . 12

  13. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS With the inputs from the stakeholders mentioned in the previous slide, the following modifications were made: • 24 indicators were removed for various reasons which will be discussed hereafter; • 17 new indicators were introduced taking into account new business requirements, e.g., quasi-judicial indicators, OCJ and Family Advocates; • 13 indicators were modified in line with current situation e.g., the communication campaign, Presidential Hotline indicators; • 27 indicators from the previous year were retained; and • Objectives have been aligned with the programme budget allocations. The detail of the changes are discussed in the next slides.

  14. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS RATIONALISED INDICATORS 1. Policy indicators Policy formulation is an important function of the department and will continue to receive due focus. However, in line with the current framework, which emphasises an outcomes approach and as a result of the complexity of the process of formulation of national policies, it has been decided that they get managed differently outside of the current APP framework. The progress of these indicators will be managed as follows: • Policy indicators will continue to be tracked through the EXCO and will remain on performance contracts of relevant senior managers. • Progress against the policy development plans will continue to be discussed with relevant stakeholders e.g. Parliament. • Progress on policy development will continue to be part of the departmental annual report.

  15. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS RATIONALISED INDICATORS 2. Policy indicators The affected indicators are as follows: • National Action Plan for strengthening national cohesion tabled and implemented; • Number of activities completed for the development of a Policy Framework for Hate Crimes; • Bi-annual reports on PAIA compliance by government departments completed within stipulated turnaround time; • Policy Framework on the transformation of the Judiciary and the Rationalisation of the Superior Courts approved by Cabinet; • Policy Framework on the alignment of Traditional Courts with the Constitution; • Policy Framework on the Transformation of the Legal Profession finalised; • Percentage of the completion of the Civil Justice Review; • Percentage of the Draft National Policy Framework on Prevention and Combating of Trafficking in Persons completed and implemented; and • The Rationalisation of the Lower Courts’ Areas of Jurisdiction Blueprint approved by Cabinet.

  16. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS RATIONALISED INDICATORS 3. Non-Core-function Indicators Efforts have been made to include more core-function and service delivery indicators in our plans. For this reason, less of the support indicators have been included. These indicators still remain on the branch annual plans and will remain on the individual performance plans of relevant senior managers. These are: • Percentage of courts with case management systems deployed and supported; • Number of communication activities implemented in line with departmental priorities; • Number of communication activities implemented in line with the communication strategy; • Number of priority courts improved through RAMP; and • Number of regions implementing business continuity programme.

  17. CHANGES IN THE CURRENT PLANS RATIONALISED INDICATORS 4. Indicators covered in other indicators • The indicators listed below were rationalised due to the existence of other indicators: • Number of key outputs to address the Third Party Funds qualification completed (already tracked under the Audit Action Plan); • Monitoring report of allocated CARA funds completed (one indicator was deemed sufficient); and • Number of regions implementing business continuity programme (already tracked under the Audit Action Plan).

  18. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION

  19. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION • The departmental budget has been reduced over the MTEF period. • Areas that have been severely affected by budgetary constraints are the following: • Security in service points and offices: • Details under Programme 1 • Increasing the number of facilities to improve access to justice: • Details under Programme 2 • Infrastructure support for other stakeholders: • • Increasing the establishment of the lower courts and providing the Judiciary (especially the Magistracy, Legal Aid, Prosecution, SAJEI) with tools of trade (accommodation requirements, ICT, library and additional security, and rentals); • Enhancing capacity in the State Legal Services, Masters, Third Party Funds, IT personnel and Risk Management.

  20. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES INTRODUCTION • Increased capacity: • • Expansion of the support personnel establishment in the courts (interpreters, finance and supply chain management personnel) as well as the personnel who perform quasi-legal functions relating to default judgments, court orders, warrants of execution, etc.. • • Implementation costs of recently passed legislation. • Information Technology: • R100 million has been allocated towards ICT infrastructure for 2012/13. Part of the budget will be used for the Business Continuity Programme. • Additional budget is needed for software development and implementation of IT systems. • The departmental objectives discussed herein take into account the funding challenges.

  21. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION

  22. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • PURPOSE • The purpose of this programme is to manage the department, develop policies and strategies for efficient administration of justice and provide centralised support services. • OVERVIEW • The following key areas in this programme will be discussed: • Running a better administration to achieve an unqualified audit; • Fighting fraud and corruption; • Improving the safety and security of our service points; • Implementation of key ICT projects; • Improvement in HR management; • Improving the co-ordination of the JCPS cluster; • The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC); and • Implementation of the Service Delivery Charter.

  23. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 1: A BETTER ADMINISTRATION TO ACHIEVE AN UNQUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION • One of the 3 key objectives of the department is to achieve a “no audit qualification” for the 2012/13 financial year. • An audit action plan with all findings is tracked and monitored monthly through the Executive Committee, with the aim of finalising all findings by the end of each financial year. • In addition, performance of funds under management of the department, such as the President’s fund, Guardian’s Fund and CARA is important. In the MTEF period, the department aims to distribute CARA funds each year by the end of the financial year. • Specific initiatives will continue to be rolled out in 2012/13 to move the department towards an unqualified audit, and these include: • Address the remaining Third Party Funds challenges; • (Also Ref: Maintenance Services under Programme 2); • Improve processes to detect irregular expenditure; and • Ongoing strengthening of capacity and skills and controls to manage the Vote Account.

  24. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION 1: A BETTER ADMINISTRATION TO ACHIEVE AN UNQUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION Audit outcomes for 2010/11 financial year: • Vote – Qualified • Guardians’ Fund – Unqualified • President’s Fund – Unqualified • CARA – Unqualified

  25. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 1: A BETTER ADMINISTRATION TO ACHIEVE AN UNQUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION • Vote account – basis for qualification • Third Party Funds (TPF) – the Auditor-General could not rely on the adequacy of the fund’s financial and control system in relation to:- • - Departmental Revenue; • - Contingent Liability and Provisions note; and • - Revenue Receivables. • Irregular expenditure of R81 million – Completeness. The department did not have an adequate system for identifying and recognizing all irregular expenditure.

  26. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION 1: A BETTER ADMINISTRATION TO ACHIEVE AN UNQUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION Key initiatives to achieve NAQ • Debriefing workshops – Executive management/Regional Heads/Regional Finance Directors; • Comprehensive National Audit Action Plans supplemented by regional Audit Plans on identified audit risk areas; • Establishment of Internal Control Component for expenditure assessment and monitoring, adherence to financial prescripts and reporting; • Additional human resource capacity in units working with trust funds, supply chain and asset management; • Training and technical guidance at Regional/Court level focussed on Compliance, Asset Management, irregular expenditure and supply chain management practices; • Enhancing departmental policies and prescripts – 3 quotations, delegations, tax compliance of service provider/s; • Monthly progress reporting to Executive management on status of implementation of approved audit action plans; • Quarterly Financial Statements preparation – these statements are then quality reviewed by the senior manager in financial reporting services. Exceptions are investigated and followed up.

  27. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION 1: A BETTER ADMINISTRATION TO ACHIEVE AN UNQUALIFIED AUDIT OPINION KEY INITIATIVES TO CONCLUDE CREDIBLE FINANCIAL REPORTING FOR TPF • Baseline Financial reporting: Annual Financial Statements for 2009/10 and 2010/11– Concluded and submitted to Auditor-General. • Skills Assessment – Concluded skills assessment for 249 Officials working in the TPF environment. • Training and staff development – training programme launched in all regions (for a period of 9 weeks during October 2011) for finance personnel; area court management personnel and Directors of Court Operations. Comprehensive training manuals and workbooks developed for TPF training. Training concluded for officials in the TPF environment. • Annual Financial Statements 2012 – Submission date: May 2012. • Systems review – Currently busy with a Systems Review to advise on the future operating model of TPF. Treasury approval was obtained for the development /procurement of new system. • Internal control - Enhanced controls on cash management and payouts - EFT deployment to 103 offices (against a target of 60 for 2011/12). • Additional capacity deployment – funding secured for 45 accounting and technical personnel to oversee and manage the TPF function at regional level.

  28. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 2: FIGHTING FRAUD AND CORRUPTION • The department has adopted a three-pronged strategy to fight corruption namely, staff awareness program, improved finalisation of cases and vetting of key staff members. • Vetting: • With regards to vetting, the new Security Vetting and Investigating System (SVIS) is functional with 17 officials trained in fingerprint taking to speed up criminal record checks. To date there are 217 files in process on SVIS. • The relationship with SAPS has been established and it helps in terms of turnaround times for criminal record checks. • During 2012/13, vetting of 68% of all outstanding senior managers is planned against the previous financial year baseline of 43% (Unaudited)

  29. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 2: FIGHTING FRAUD AND CORRUPTION • Investigations: • During the 2011/12 financial year: • 11 new fraud investigators were employed to assist with investigations; • More than 30 fraud and corruption workshops were held; • 24 officials went through the disciplinary processes as result of finalised cases and 6 people were arrested. There were 14 dismissals (from one case). • For 2012/13, the target finalisation rate for cases is 60% and 70% for old and new cases respectively. • Awareness sessions: • Awareness sessions in conjunction with PALAMA will continue over the MTEF period, with 35 planned in 2012/13.

  30. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 3. IMPROVING THE SAFETY AND SECURITY OF OUR SERVICE POINTS • The department continues to have a high risk of crime perpetuated against staff and the public, and for this reason safety and security remains an important issue, despite the severe budget constraints experienced. • The department completed 50 security infrastructure projects in different courts in the last financial year with the limited budget it has. These courts were prioritised after a threat and risk assessment. • In the 2012/13 financial year, the department will introduce measures to stretch the limited budget to deliver on the important objective of keeping courts, staff and the community safe. These measures will assist the department to rollout security systems to 70 additional courts in the next two years.

  31. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 4: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY • In 2011/12, the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS) was deployed to 402 magistrates’ offices to deal with deceased estates. Officials were also trained and over 200 000 deceased estates were captured on the system. • R100 million has been allocated towards ICT infrastructure for 2012/13. Part of the budget will be used for the Business Continuity Programme. • The department is striving to increase the optimisation of automated systems. As a way to address this objective, 4 ICMS systems were identified and will be finalised in phases over the MTEF period: • ICMS Maintenance Courts; • ICMS Masters Deceased Estate system; • ICMS Masters Trust system; and • ICMS Third Party Funds System.

  32. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 5: HUMAN RESOURCES • In 2011/12, 50 service delivery related courses were conducted by Justice College and 1 493 delegates were trained on these courses. The department intends to train 6 500 personnel through the Justice College during 2012/13. • With regard to grievance and misconduct cases, the department plans to resolve 80% of grievance cases and 95% of misconduct cases respectively, over the MTEF period.

  33. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • In 2011/12, the department maintained the vacancy rate at around 10% and aims to achieve a 9% rate, which is still ahead of public service targets. • Vacancy rate at senior management level and strategic areas:

  34. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 6: IMPROVED CO-ORDINATION OF THE JCPS CLUSTER TOWARDS THE DELIVERY OF OUTCOME 3. • Modernisation of the Criminal Justice system: • The department leads the JCPS cluster towards the delivery of outcome 3 of government: “All People in South Africa are and feel safe”. • The department is leading and facilitating a review of the Integrated Justice System (IJS) Programme, by the cluster, to ensure the accelerated modernisation and integration of technology systems across the criminal justice system. (more info in the next slide) • In addition to co-ordination of the cluster activities and indicators, the department has introduced a new indicator that will focus on reporting the progress of the IJS Programme.

  35. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 6: IMPROVED CO-ORDINATION OF THE JCPS CLUSTER TOWARDS THE DELIVERY OF OUTCOME 3. • The CJS Modernisation Programme: • The Integrated Justice System (IJS) Programme remains vital in the modernisation journey of the Criminal Justice System (CJS). The Cluster has identified 5 integration priorities which are packaged into 3 major programme streams to ensure focussed delivery. These priorities are around the implementation of Case related integration, Cluster business intelligence capabilities and creation of an integrated framework for effective management of persons i.e. identification, detention and tracking throughout the CJS. • We have concluded pilots of the various case related integrations between SAPS' upgraded crime administration system (CAS) and the department's Integrated Case Management System (ICMS), which were conducted in Benoni and Cullinan District Courts. This integration entails the electronic transmission of docket information, first appearance outcomes and case status information between SAPS and DOJCD. • We have also concluded the deployment of the Video Arraignment solution to 47 Magistrates’ Courts linked to 22 Department of Correctional Services (DCS) facilities. 35

  36. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 6: IMPROVED CO-ORDINATION OF THE JCPS CLUSTER TOWARDS THE DELIVERY OF OUTCOME 3. • The IJS Modernisation Programme: • The plan regarding the Video Arraignment System in the financial year 2012/13 and over the MTEF period: • In the current financial year, the focus will be on the maintenance and support of the 47 courts to which we have already rolled out the system; • Explore the possibility of procuring a performance monitoring tool in order to improve the system’s stability in the IJS value-chain, subject to availability of funds; • Extensively engage with members of the Judiciary and other stakeholders in Courts to improve usage of the system; • Closely monitor the impact of the VPN migration from Telkom to SITA and the potential roll- back; • Analysis of the effectiveness of the system and measurement of business benefits derived from the implementation; and • Further rollout is planned for the financial year 2013/14.

  37. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 6: IMPROVED CO-ORDINATION OF THE JCPS CLUSTER TOWARDS THE DELIVERY OF OUTCOME 3. • The IJS Modernisation Programme: • The plan for 2012/13 financial year, is to have the first operational pilot test of the NPA's electronic case management system (ECMS) and its integration with the SAPS enhanced crime administration system. The goal of ECMS is to improve the way prosecutors review dockets and through the new integrations with SAPS, enable improved case preparation and communication with the police’s investigating officers. • As the ECMS is being rolled out, it will also contribute to the reduction of the number of dockets that go missing. The system will also allow prosecutors to prepare charge sheets online with improved accuracy and through its integration with our ICMS system's electronic court roll functions, improve the scheduling of court appearances and the linking of court outcomes back into NPA and SAPS. • The ECMS business pilot tests, upon successful completion, will be prioritised in high volume courts, associated police stations and NPA offices for implementation.

  38. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 1: ADMINISTRATION • 7: TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION COMMISSION: • The other key objective of the department is to finalise outstanding truth and reconciliation commission reparations per TRC recommendations. During the 2011/12 financial year, 447 individual reparations were paid, therefore 428 are still outstanding. The department plans to finalise the distribution of funds to all TRC victims in the 2012/13 financial year. • The consultation process regarding regulations on Basic and Higher Education as well as Health has been concluded. The regulations are now being prepared for submission to Cabinet. • With regard to Community Rehabilitation, the Department formally engaged the Independent Development Trust (IDT) to conduct needs analysis and thereafter implement.

  39. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES • 8. SERVICE CHARTER AND CUSTOMER SERVICE • The departmental Service Standards and the Service Charter have been launched and will be implemented in phases during the MTEF. • The completion rate of 87% of Presidential Hotline cases in the 2011/12 financial year, has been impressive. Over the MTEF period, more emphasis will be on the completion of simple matters within 30 days. 39

  40. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES

  41. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES PURPOSE The purpose of this programme is to facilitate the resolution of criminal, civil and family law disputes by providing accessible, efficient and quality administrative support to the courts and managing court facilities. OVERVIEW The discussion focuses on the key areas of this programme, namely: 1. Case finalisation and service delivery, 2. Access to justice, 3. Protection of vulnerable groups, 4. Constitutional advocacy, and 5. Capacitation of the Office of Chief Justice.

  42. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES • 1: CASE FINALISATION AND SERVICE DELIVERY • Part of the core function of the department is the facilitation of finalisation of cases, and the key focus areas for this MTEF period are: • Facilitation of finalisation of case backlogs; and • Finalisation of family law cases.

  43. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES 1: CASE FINALISATION AND SERVICE DELIVERY Case backlogs The case backlog reduction intervention, which is aimed at reducing the number of backlog cases in the regional and district courts, has provided additional capacity to the backlog priority sites. The aim of the backlog intervention is to ensure that the inflow of the number of new cases is balanced by the number of matters concluded. From the inception of the backlog reduction intervention in November 2006 until the end of February 2012, 57 331 criminal cases were removed from the Regional and District court rolls by these additional backlog courts as indicated in the table below: 43

  44. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES • The Case Backlog Project • Comparison of the total number of backlog cases on the court rolls for the 2010/11 and 2011/12 financial years: • Role of the DOJCD: • The department provided resources in the form of Infrastructure, court personnel, judiciary, magistrates and budget. • Finalisation of these cases is largely influenced by the Prosecution and the Judiciary. 44

  45. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES • 1: CASE FINALISATION AND SERVICE DELIVERY • Resolution of Family Law cases: • The objective of the Office of the Family Advocate is to finalise family-related disputes according to the guidelines in the legislation and to ensure that this is done to the satisfaction of parties involved. • In line with these, two new indicators have been introduced: • Percentage of family law cases involving fathers of children born out of wedlock resolved in mediation (in line with the requirements to be sensitive to the needs of fathers), and • Percentage of family advocates’ court reports filed within 15 days.

  46. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES • 2: ACCESS TO JUSTICE: • The major challenge facing the department is to address the historical imbalances relating to court infrastructure. This challenge is complicated by the following additional realities: • Escalation of infrastructure costs above inflation, resulting in cash flow for building new courts, often being insufficient. The limitations in cash flow results in postponements in some construction projects; • Balancing the need for additional courts with the maintenance and accessibility programmes of existing courts; and • The growth in the establishment numbers and new areas of services. • Current infrastructure is not maintained at the correct levels. This results in degeneration of facilities at a much faster rate and the work of the key users (judiciary and prosecutors) being stifled by poor facilities. • For the 2012/13 financial year, the department will establish norms regarding the balance between capital works and maintenance of existing infrastructure with a view of engaging Public Works and National Treasury on ways of achieving this balance without compromising on building new infrastructure which is desperately needed.

  47. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRAMME 2: COURT SERVICES • 2: ACCESS TO JUSTICE: • In 2011/12 financial year, three courts which were under construction were Tsakane, Katlehong and Kagiso. • Tsakane has been completed while the other two courts (Katlehong and Kagiso) will be completed early in the 2012/13 financial year. • The major projects undertaken and once put on hold in the last financial year, are shown in the slides that follow. • In addition, the department plans to : • Convert the remaining 5 branch courts to full service courts; and • Establish 24 new small claims courts.

  48. MAJOR PROJECTS UNDERTAKEN IN 2011/12: STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES 2: ACCESS TO JUSTICE

  49. STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES PROGRESS AT LIMPOPO HIGH COURT PROJECT: Although the completion date was revised to July 2012, it will be further revised due to added scope and other delays. Currently the foundation, 2 basements (including holding cells) and the first floor have been completed (40% completion; R265 million spent).

  50. MTEF CAPEX PROJECT LIST STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

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