Hon House Chair, the Judicial Matters Second Amendment Bill is a committee Bill.
The Bill's purpose is to amend the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, so as to enable the Minister of Justice to designate certain courts for the purposes of dealing with sexual offences and related matters.
The first sexual offences court was introduced in South Africa in Wynberg, Cape Town in 1993 as a pilot project, as an innovative measure to improve the prosecution and adjudication of sexual offences. The pilot project was a huge success that resulted in the rolling out of further sexual offences courts around the country. However, for reasons I will not go into, these courts became redundant.
It is important to note that, notwithstanding the absence of exclusive sexual offences courts, cases involving sexual offences have been heard and are still being heard in our courts. The demise of the sexual offences courts was criticised by many civil society organisations and NGOs who deal with such matters at the coalface. The amendment, as announced in the media by the hon Minister of Justice, provided for the reintroduction of sexual offences courts, and the Bill does this.
There is a need to provide a legislative framework that expressly authorises the establishment of these courts, and the Bill does this. We have been reliably informed that some 57 regional courts have been identified to be designated exclusive sexual offences courts.
House Chair, there is a gentleman taking pictures in the House.
Who is it?
He is a visitor to the House.
(Mr M B Skosana): Sir, you are not allowed to do that. Please continue, hon Landers.
The Bill will have substantial financial implications for the departments involved in the criminal justice system. However, the sexual offences courts will only be designated once the necessary funding has been acquired to put in place the specified infrastructure, sufficient court personnel have been appointed and trained, and professional multidisciplinary services for victims are available. Some of the courts which were previously established as sexual offences courts have some infrastructure and basic capacity in place to deal with sexual offences. We commend this Bill to the House, and the ANC will be supporting it. Thank you.
There was no debate.
Requests for Declarations of vote have been received. I will now allow one member of each political party wishing to make a declaration an opportunity of up to three minutes to do so.
Declarations of vote:
House Chair, the DA is very pleased to support the passing of this Bill today.
We still fail to understand the rationale for getting rid of the sexual offence courts in the first place. Despite denials from government, it is quite clear from the task team's report that they were disbanded because of the previous Justice Minister, Brigitte Mabandla. They were hugely successful and their closure was unforgivable in the light of the seriousness and prevalence of sexual offences in our country.
This Bill now provides the Minister with the legal power to designate specialised courts to deal specifically with sexual offences, in which case they must be established. The Bill does not, however, preclude any other court from dealing with sexual offences matters if it has not been so designated.
The necessary consultation is provided for through the judiciary and the NPA. Of course, the discretion to designate the courts or not still lies with the Minister, a situation which requires a political commitment to implement these courts.
The current Minister has, at least, at last expressed his commitment to their reinstatement but we are still concerned about the insufficient budget that has been allocated for this. In the current year only, R20 million has been allocated for the re-establishment of sexual offences courts and the Minister has announced that this is for the establishment of at least 22 such courts.
According to the task team's report, the preliminary costing to establish a new court from scratch is R3,6 million. For a court that is partially resourced, the staffing cost alone is over R2 million. On the basis of a simple mathematical calculation, it is thus clear that, for 22 courts to be established from scratch, it will cost R79,2 million, and for staffing alone, R44 million.
We therefore have to wonder how many courts will actually materialise during this financial year. Given that the R200 million that has been spent on Nkandla could have paid for the staffing of about 100 sexual offences courts, it doesn't take much to figure out where this government's priorities really lie. The DA supports this Bill.
House Chairperson, the Judicial Matters Second Amendment Bill provides the legislative framework for the re-establishment of specially designated sexual offences courts.
These courts were first introduced in Wynberg way back and the intention was to improve the conviction rates for sexual offences cases, and they have proved to be a great success.
Since then, however, they have been reduced and have been dealing with mixed court roles although giving priority to sexual offences cases. The demise has been widely criticised due, mainly, to the negative impact that it has had on conviction rates for sexual offences. Now we know the scourge of sexual offences in our country and therefore we, as the ACDP, welcome this committee's initiative to introduce this Bill.
One of the reasons for their demise was that magistrates were not keen to sit on these courts exclusively. We have been able to address this concern to a large degree.
While we welcome the Bill, for it to make a real difference there must be a departmental plan that sets out targets for the rolling out of such courts with specific timeframes. While we also appreciate that there are budgetary constraints and that the department has budgetary constraints, clearly R20 million, as set out, is not sufficient to roll out these special courts countrywide.
It is a great concern that these courts can only be designated when the necessary funding has been made available for the infrastructure and the multidisciplinary services for the victims of sexual offences. Some of these courts that were previously established will be able to continue and have infrastructure in place, but this is clearly not enough.
The ACDP, from the submissions we received, appreciates that there is a degree of scepticism from civil society. We as MPs need to ensure, as part of our oversight function, that these courts are not only set up, but that they actually provide a better quality of services for victims of sexual offences than the ordinary courts. We cannot fail the victims of sexual offences. The ACDP will support this Bill. I thank you.
Hon members, please let the speakers be heard.
Sihlalo weNdlu, akhengirithe ngelimi lesizukulwana sikaMusi noMhlanga ngenzele bona nomuntu ohlala eMagomedzana ezwe kuhle bona into esikhuluma ngayo le yini. UmThetho lo ufuna bona kube namakhotho azakusebenza ngemilandu emayelana nokugagadlhela namkha ukukata. Okhunye kukuthi kufanele silemuke bonyana amakhotho anjengalawa akhe abakhona begodu ayegade asiza khulu ngokurhabisa imilandu yokugagadlhela.
Kunekinga ekulu eyenzekako begodu nesirarako gadesi: Abesanyana bagagadlhela iinlukazi, kuthi abobaba bona bagagadlhele abantazanyana. Kunekulumo emamala ethi, lokha umuntu nakanobulwelwe bentumbantonga [HIV/Aids], nakangaya emsemeni nomuntu wengubo ongakhange ahlangane nendoda angalapheka. Ngifuna bona ngithi esitjhabeni: "Ningezwa, into enjalo imamala begodu ayikho."
Angibuye ngitjho godu bona sesaphasisa umThetho onikela abagwebi, okubomantji namajaji, bona badlulise iingwebo eziqinileko [minimum sentences] Alo-ke nasele usebenza umThetho lo, labo abakha umrorho ngekani namkha abagagadlhelako, bangazithola babhadla ejele isikhathi eside. Kungakho thina siyihlangano ebusako ye-ANC, siwusekela umThethomlingwa lo bonyana uphasiswe ukwazi ukuragela phambili usebenze. Uzokubalisizo kwamambala khulukhulu kibomma okungibo kanengi abababongazimbi bezenzo zokukata. Begodu siyesawutjhugulula umThethomlingwa lo bonyana kuthi lokha nakukhulunywa ngokukata, kufakwe hlangana zoke izehlakalo ezithintana nezitho zangasese. Ngiyathokoza. [Kuyawahlwa.] (Translation of isiNdebele paragraphs follows.)
House Chairperson, let me use the language of the descendant of Musi and Mhlanga so that even someone who lives in Magomedzana will precisely understand what we are talking about. This law requires that there should be courts that will deal with sexual offences cases. Another thing we need to understand is that courts like this existed way back and that they were very helpful in speedily resolving cases of sexual offences.
There is a serious problem that exists and that confuses us now: young boys are raping elders and old men are raping young girls. There is this misleading information out there that a person who has HIV/Aids can have sex with a virgin and be healed. I want to say to the nation: "Don't listen to that; that is not true and does not exist".
Let me say again that we have passed a law that allows presiding officers in courts, meaning magistrates and judges, to pass minimum sentences. Therefore, when this law is implemented, those who are found guilty of rape will find themselves serving long prison sentences. That is why, as the ruling party, the ANC, we are supporting the passing of this Bill so that it will work. It will be helpful especially to women who are the victims of rape. And we have amended this Bill so that when we talk about rape, it should include everything that relates to private parts. Thank you. [Applause.]]
Bill read a second time.