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NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO: 669
DATE OF QUESTION:
Mrs D A Schäfer (DA) to ask the Minister of Justice and Constitutional
Development:
Whether, with reference to his reply to question 3045 on 29 October 2010
stating that only (a) 263 of the 386 equality courts have magistrates and
(b) 247 out of 386 have clerks, his department is still committed to the
equality courts; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what
(i) plans and (ii) timeframes for these plans are in place for the proper
resourcing of these courts? NW716E
REPLY:-
I would like to inform the Honourable Member that the Department of Justice
and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) is still committed to Equality
Courts. Â The Promotion of the Equality and Prevention of Unfair
Discrimination Act, 2000 (the Equality Act) (Section 16), makes provision
for the designation of magistrateâs courts as Equality Courts by the
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. Â
You may be aware that as from August 2009, all magisterial districts have
been designated as Equality Courts. Â Furthermore, the Heads of the
Administrative Regions must designate any magistrate or additional
magistrate as a presiding officer of the equality courts. Â However, such
designation is conditional to section 16(2) of the Equality Act, that only
a magistrate or additional magistrate who has completed a training course
as presiding officer of the Equality Court can be so designated.
My Department has recently conducted a number of Provincial Equality Court
Izindaba aimed at identifying issues around the functioning of the Equality
Courts. Â It was found, amongst others, that little interest is shown by
some judicial officers in dealing with equality court matters. Â The
recommendations from the Izindaba were that the judicial training on the
Equality Act should be made compulsory.
To this end, my Department has written to the Chief Magistratesâ Forum to:
 (a) request the Chief Magistratesâ Forum to encourage and ensure that
magistrates attend and complete a training course on the Equality Act
to create a pool from which the heads of administrative regions may
designate magistrates as presiding officers of the Equality Courts;
and
(b)Â Â consider magistratesâ training on the Equality Act compulsory.
This initiative seeks to ensure that my Department is able to effectively
and efficiently resource the Equality Courts and to deal with any
interruptions which may result from any loss of a designated magistrate/s.
My Department and the Foundation for Human Rights are also implementing a
project that would promote constitutional development and strengthen
participatory democracy to ensure respect for fundamental human rights.
This project would focus on the following:- the functioning of the equality
courts, Education and Awareness, Radio Programmes, Workshops, Training,
Round-Table Discussions, development of an Equality Law Journal;
establishment of an Equality Working Group, Monitoring and Evaluation. This
project is funded by the European Union.Â
The Honourable Member is furthermore referred to pages 58-59 of my
Departments Strategic Plan for details on its commitment to issues of
equality and human rights in general.