Voorsitter, agb lede, ek was nie veronderstel om vandag aan hierdie debat deel te neem nie. My kollega en vriend, Dr Tertius Delport, hoofwoordvoerder van die DA oor justisie sou ons spreker gewees het. Hy het egter 'n hartaanval gehad en het 'n ernstige hartomleidingoperasie ondergaan en sal vir 'n tyd lank nie by ons wees nie. Ek vra vir u om asseblief aan hom en sy familie te dink in julle gebede. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[Mr L K JOUBERT: Chairperson, hon members, I was not supposed to participate in this debate today. My colleague and friend, Dr Tertius Delport, the DA's chief spokesperson on justice, should have been our speaker. However, he has had a heart attack and had to undergo serious heart bypass surgery and will not be with us for quite a while. I ask that you extend your thoughts and prayers to him and his family.]
The DA welcomes the Jurisdiction of Regional Courts Amendment Bill, as we welcome all measures to improve our justice system. This, of course, is an interim measure pending the further rationalisation of our courts, which is a constitutional imperative that we still have to comply with more than 12 years down the line. We realise that this is a complex matter, but if Napoleon succeeded in codifying all French law in less time, surely we should be able to do better in this day and age. It is regrettable that we still do not have a clear picture of the final rationalisation of our courts, and we seem to be doing this in piecemeal way.
I say this because the portfolio committee is at present also busy with the renaming of the High Courts Bill and the Traditional Courts Bill. One gets the impression that there is no holistic vision of what South Africa really needs, so in the meantime we tinkle with the existing structures. What we need is a clear picture of where we are taking our court system, and that - I am afraid - is not forthcoming. As far as this particular piece of legislation is concerned, I am happy to state that our concerns were addressed, especially the one about the regional magistrates being adequately vested in civil law.
Dr Delport, as chairman of the training committee of the Magistrates Commission, felt very strongly about this issue, and we are satisfied with the provisions for training of regional magistrates as stipulated in the Bill. Another concern we had was the backlogs in our regional courts, and it was felt that the regional courts will be overburdened if civil jurisdiction is added to their already heavy workload. The promise of more than 50 new regional magistrates posts alleviate our fears, and we can only urge the department to start filling the posts without delay, preferably from the private sector, as it would otherwise just amount to playing musical chairs.
In as much as we are today, in adopting this Bill, dissolving the Divorce Courts I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to salute the presiding officers of those courts who, over many years, gave so diligently to us. Although the Divorce Court has its origin in racial legislation, in later years it became a model court and, in my experience, is the best organised of all courts that I attended as a practitioner. I can only hope that now that they will be part of the regional courts they will transfer their excellence to these courts. I thank you.