Hopefully I am
audible. We continue to implement projects to upgrade dilapidated courts and build new ones. These projects are being implemented joint with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure, DPWI, together with its implementing agencies.
Some of the new magistrate courts that are currently under construction include the Mamelodi Court in Gauteng, and the Port Shepstone Magistrate Court in KwaZulu-Natal. These courts come
against the backdrop of the new courts that are completed during the fifth administration, namely; Bityi and Dimbaza Magistrate Court in the Eastern Cape and Plettenberg Bay Magistrate Court in the Western Cape respectively.
We have also revamped an old abandoned magistrate court build in 1903, through the use of insource offenders and labour provided through the Department of Correctional Services. This revamped magistrate court serves as a local seat of the newly established Mpumalanga High Court.
The primary reason for the depressing condition of most of our courts is as a result of the lack of an effective maintenance plan which is due to on one hand resources and delegations that are straddled between our department and the DPWI and the Department of Correctional Services.
I am pleased to report that in my engagement with my colleague Minister De Lille, there is an agreement to review the delegations pertaining to maintenance and prioritise maintenance as one of the priority focus areas of the DPWI. I can also mention that as part of this agreement, the DPWI has appointed the Development Bank of South Africa to implement what is called the Total Facilities Management
Solutions, which will focus on the maintenance of air condition, lifts, and electricity supply as these are major disruptions to our courts operations.
Regarding day to day maintenance, we have also been enabled by DPWI to implement term contracts to reduce the backlog on planned maintenance and improve turnaround time in addressing infrastructure glitches. This will enable the department to enlist the services of service providers to start with magisterial districts concerns to undertake small to medium maintenance and repairs of the court infrastructure expeditiously.
We are also accelerating repairs of some of our long outstanding projects, such as the Mqanduli, Polokwane and Protea Magistrate Courts, which were burnt down. I have also directed the Director- General to develop an implementation plan on various measures I have just alluded to, which will form an addendum to a memorandum of understanding that the department will conclude soon with the DPWI. This implementation plan will spell out measures that will be undertaken in relation to the specific courts and the same will be presented to this esteemed House through our existing reporting mechanisms. Thank you.