Johannesburg - In an effort to continue providing better, faster and cost effective services to the public, communities around Gauteng and the North West will from Monday be able to access justice services closer to where they live.
This initiative, known as the “rationalisation of magisterial districts to municipal boundaries”, seeks to align the magisterial boundaries of the country’s courts with municipal and provincial boundaries.
The initiative will ensure that people are serviced by a court which is within their municipal boundaries.
For example, community members of Diepsloot, which belongs to the Johannesburg Metro, had to travel for about 40km to the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court in the Tshwane Metro to access justice services at a cost of R70 taxi fare.
Similarly the police in respect of transporting detainees, probation officers under the Department of Social Development and district surgeons under the Department of Health who are required to come and testify in various cases for example, had to travel to the furthest court in Pretoria outside the City of Johannesburg Metro. This is not only costly to the State but it also does not lend itself to economical use of time and resources.
With the rationalisation of courts, Diepsloot residents will from Monday access justice services at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court, which is about 15km away, with a taxi fare of about R15.
The same scenario plays itself out in several other parts of the country.
In the Marikana human settlement in the North West for example, the community and State functionaries travel to the court in Odi District, which is about 150km away, while the Rustenburg court is less than 30km from the informal human settlement.
The initiative, says Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha, marks the beginning of a new era in the administration of justice in the country.
“The aim of the realignment of courts is to ensure that more people have access to justice services at courts located closer to where they live,” said the Minister, who spoke at the launch of the initiative in Diepsloot, south of Johannesburg, on Friday.
The rationalisation of courts, the Minister said, also contributes to the department’s efforts to bring access to justice to closer to communities, especially those who were neglected by the government before 1994.
“The rationalisation of courts is now trying to rectify those apartheid inequalities while ensuring that services are equally and speedily rendered to all people in South Africa,” said the Minister.
Meeting a basic human right
The current 384 magisterial districts in the country are still based on the boundaries drawn up before 1994.
Branch courts were established in former black townships and rural areas, rendering limited services on the adjudication of criminal cases and people were forced to travel to towns and cities for other services.
“Access to justice as a basic human right is provided for in the Constitution,” said Minister Masutha, who outlined several other benefits to the affected communities such as Soweto, Krugersdorp, Kagiso, Randburg, Pretoria North, Soshanguve, Palmridge and Sebokeng.
For instance, in respect of metropolitan areas and large municipalities, more than one magisterial district or sub-districts of a district will be established in order to alleviate congestion of cases at one court or justice service centre.
Regional courts, the Minister said, will be eligible to use a district court, sub-district or branch court as seats of the regional court concerned so that people do not have to travel outside their municipal areas to access the services of a regional court.
This will ensure that regional courts, in particular courts which are dedicated to special cases such as Sexual Offences Courts, are within reach of local communities.
In respect of High Courts, there will be a seat for a Division of the High Court in each of the nine provinces to ensure that communities are able to access services of a High Court in the province of their residence.
Minister Masutha has assured that capacity challenges in affected courts will be addressed and in instances where work volume is high, the department will ensure that there is adequate staff to deal with such matters.
The community of Diepsloot that SAnews spoke to welcomed the initiative.
“This is a testimony that government is serious about bringing services to us. It is also proof that it is a government that cares for its people,” said Grace Maphula.
What it means for current cases
Chief Operations Officer of the Department of Justice, Khotso De Wee, stressed that all new cases enrolled from 1 December 2014 in Gauteng and North West provinces will be dealt with by the court allocated to serve that particular community.
Cases that were enrolled before 1 December 2014 and are pending will be dealt with and finalised at the courts where they originated.
De Wee said the department consulted with all role players involved. These include the South African Police Service, Correctional Services, the Department of Social Development, the sheriffs’ sector and the legal profession whose operations are intrinsically linked to courts areas of jurisdiction and the judiciary.
The rationalisation process will also be rolled out in Mpumalanga and Limpopo from April 2015, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape in August 2015 and Western Cape, Northern Cape and Free State in April 2016. – SAnews.gov.za
