Chairperson, it is indeed an honour for me to present to you and this House the report of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development for the first year of the second democratic Parliament.
At the very outset, allow me to express my personal appreciation for the co- operation I continue to receive from all my fellow Ministers within the justice cluster, which comprises the Ministers and Deputy Ministers of Correctional Services, Defence, Finance, Home Affairs, Intelligence, and Safety and Security.
Since we were appointed last year to our respective portfolios, our collective objective as a cluster has been to ensure that we respond to matters relating to the criminal justice system in an integrated manner. Thus our work as the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has to be seen in the context of the work and efforts of our cluster.
I want to address a few issues, and the first one is globalisation. This, needless to say, is a reality. It impacts on our new democracy in a most dramatic fashion. Capital virtually moves at the speed of thought between and to those markets that are regarded as favourable or profitable.
We are, today, also confronted by organised crime, the scourge of money laundering and cyber crime, as my colleague the Minister of Safety and Security has already said. Appropriate legislation and training of our officials are required to attend to this. Needless to say, the unacceptably high level of crime and the quality of the administration of justice have a serious impact on our attractiveness as an emerging market and on our ability to attract increasing foreign direct investment. This represents our most pressing challenge yet. We are addressing some of these problems in conjunction with the international community as part of both bilateral and multilateral efforts, and, again, my colleague the Minister of Safety and Security has referred to some of the exciting work that we are doing in this regard.
The next area relates to the department itself. The department has embarked on a campaign to ensure that all head office managers visit our various offices. This will ensure that senior officials and policy-makers familiarise themselves with those issues pertinent to the efficient functioning of our courts. I will encourage this practice, needless to say.
We have also embarked on a redeployment project. The intention is to take a number of suitably qualified lawyers, magistrates and prosecutors, currently doing administrative work, out of the department and place them back in the courts in order to reinforce our delivery processes. Needless to say, we need to consider how to handle this sensitive matter because these people have, in the meantime, accumulated a lot of benefits and packages which may tend to distort the situation at the coalface if we are not careful in the way we handle it. Nonetheless, there is, indeed, going to be redeployment of personnel.
During our visits to a number of our courts, police stations and prisons, we found the physical infrastructure and conditions in which people live and operate simply unacceptable. This cannot be permitted to continue. The upgrading of our courts will therefore be a major challenge that my department will face.
In this regard, I am pleased to report that the allocation of R145 million for capital works during 1999 has enabled the department to commence with the construction of new buildings and other major works. This will take place at centres where there were no facilities at all before, and where service delivery was seriously hampered owing to a lack of facilities. Despite insufficient funding, we have developed a programme to address our immediate infrastructure needs. As a result, the largest number of major and minor building services ever is already under construction. Most of these worthy projects have been undertaken in previously disadvantaged rural areas of our country. As part of this programme, for example, I went to a launch yesterday of a court construction project at Blue Downs on the Cape Flats. This will no doubt contribute to the department's and our cluster's goal of bringing justice closer to our people.
We have previously publicly reported on the question of security within our courts. I am pleased to report that we are beginning to address this problem. We have initiated a process of outsourcing our security requirements. In this financial year alone we have invested a further R14 million to meet this challenge.
The National Prosecuting Authority has continued to make strides in major areas in the administration of criminal justice and the fight against crime, in collaboration with the SA Police Service. It has continued to strive for an efficient and effective prosecution service. The Office of the National Director of Public Prosecutions has created new national entities in order to begin to address some of the challenges facing the prosecuting authority.
Having achieved the targets it had set for itself for the past year, the National Prosecuting Authority has set itself other targets for this year.
We have already begun to see that the prosecutors are even meeting the new targets. We are already beginning to see further increases in the average court hours. May I pause here to say that whereas some time last year courts were sitting an average of only one to two hours, they now, happily so, sit for anything upwards of four and a half hours. In addition, we have seen a reduction in outstanding court rolls, an increase in the number of court cases finalised with a verdict, a reduction in the number of outstanding decision dockets, a reduction in the number of prisoners awaiting trial and a reduction in the finalisation period of matters already in the system.
I am satisfied that the National Prosecuting Authority is well on its way in establishing a prosecuting service that is representative, professional, ready to fight crime, legitimate in the eyes of the people it serves and regarded as the true ``people's lawyers''.
It is now my wish to turn my attention to some of our most difficult challenges that affect our core business - our courts. There are two key challenges that face us in this regard, namely effective court and case management, and reducing the population of prisoners awaiting trial.
Our research and analysis over the past few years have shown that the only effective solution to these problems is to adopt an integrated cluster approach. We cannot respond to these challenges solely as, and within, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. The only viable approach is to address these problems together with our partners within the justice cluster, particularly with the Departments of Safety and Security, Correctional Services, and Welfare. The success of this approach is borne out by international best practice.
It gives me great pleasure to report to this House that after several years of planning and research, we are in the process of implementing an integrated justice system. Of greater significance is the fact that pilot projects to develop a docket management and event notification system between the police, prosecution, courts and prisons have been approved. The project is referred to as the Court Process Project. The tender for this project has been considered and we hope to announce during the course of next week the award of a major contract for its implementation. It is expected that the pilot project will provide us with a basis on which to address the most critical demands made on the justice system. A central aspect of this project, though, is the emphasis on change management.
A further project to address the more immediate and pressing problem of the excessive population of prisoners awaiting trial has already been piloted. I am pleased to report that this project has started yielding positive results. Indirect savings in excess of R50 million have already been made.
This afternoon, in conjunction with the Minister of Health, the Minister for Welfare and Population Development, and the Minister of Safety and Security, we launched a pilot project at the J F Jooste Hospital in Manenberg to handle victims of rape and other forms of sexual abuse with dignity and professionalism. The project comprises dedicated police officers and prosecutors, as well as Health, Welfare and Population Development officials.
These are only some of the most important projects we have initiated in this financial year. The fact that we are investing more than R140 million this financial year alone is, if anything, indicative of our seriousness.
It would be remiss of me not to comment on another topical issue. In this regard it would be useful to remember that, as a country, we embarked upon the transition and, as part of our political settlement, we chose to retain the judicial structures and personnel we inherited from our past. In fact, but for the establishment of one new court, the Constitutional Court, we chose to use such structures and personnel as the foundation for post- apartheid justice.
May I say that indeed, whilst there may be many reasons for complaint, it is advisable and indeed useful for all of us to observe that nonetheless in our courts, both lower and higher, a lot of good work is being done. I want to say, to this House and through this House, that as we were launching the project that I have alluded to, we had virtually all the structures in the criminal justice system represented. They were there to exhibit their commitment to making a contribution towards the further building of this country into a better society.
I know many people may cite all manner of statistics to show apparent bias in all sorts of directions, but I just want to say that in our own observation the complaints essentially relate to sentencing. That is why we have actually asked, as a cluster, the SA Law Commission to address this issue, and I am happy to say there is in circulation a draft working paper on this issue, which will enable all of us to participate constructively in the discussion of the issue of sentencing. Eventually we need to emerge as a country with a sentencing policy and position which allows our courts to treat like cases alike.
I can assure this House, and through this House the country, that we have the total commitment of virtually all the officials that I am referring to. As Minister over the past year I have had ample opportunity to interact with many of them, particularly those who are at the leadership levels of our courts, and at no point did I ever feel that I was dealing with men and women whose loyalty to this country we should have any cause to doubt. So indeed I am hoping that we will be able to transmit this message to our country.
Lastly, I also want to thank all the men and women in my own department, as well as in the cluster, who are assisting us in the performance of this arduous task of ours. Without their participation, dedication and tenacity, without their preparedness to do even more hours than they are required to do in terms of their contractual obligations, I am afraid we would not be able to tell what I believe is a better story about our criminal justice system. [Applause.]