Political parties in the National Assembly (NA) raised concerns about the cuts to the budget of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ&CD), specifically cuts to the Special Investigating Unit’s (SIU) budget. They raised the concerns when the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development recently delivered the department’s budget for the 2024/2025 financial year during a mini plenary in the NA.
Delivering her budget vote speech, the Minister – Ms Thembi Simelani – said the R25.1bn budget would support critical operations across the department, including court services, state legal services, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), and auxiliary and associated services.
She said the department has allocated R4.2bn from its budget of R25.1 billion for employment costs. She said R628 million is earmarked for implementing the crucial recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture (Zondo commission), “[to ensure] we continue to enhance our justice system’s integrity and effectiveness”.
Ms Simelane said the department’s focus over the medium-term expenditure framework period centred on improving service delivery efficiencies though digital transformation and modernisation. “In the new financial year, the department received a baseline increase of R1.321bn on the compensation for employees to fund the carry-through costs for the cost-of-living adjustment. This adjustment will relieve financial pressure on the department’s compensation of employees’ budget in the current financial year, as there was no additional budget allocation previously provided to fund the same.”
Ms Simelane also noted the budget reduction of R1.586 billion as part of National Treasury’s drive to manage state debt.
The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr Xola Nqola, noted that the department’s infrastructure budget has been reduced by R495.3 million over the medium-term. He said: “The reduction is especially concerning, given the poor state of many of the court and justice service points.”
Mr Nqola also said it is concerning that the SIU, a leading corruption-fighting agency, has had its budget reduced by R171.2 million over the medium-term. It has been reported that the budget cuts will restrict the Special Investigating Unit from increasing staff to address a growing number of investigations and risks its ability to achieve strategic goals, such as improved investigation times, data analytics for corruption cases, accelerated civil litigation, and digital transformation. The Committee intends to meet the National Prosecuting Authority and SIU about their funding. “Having considered the budget, we (ANC) recommend that it be approved.”
Adv Glynnis Breytenbach of the Democratic Alliance said the amount of work needed to turn around the department was huge. The administration of justice was in disarray and court infrastructure was poor. She highlighted the “staggering” corruption at the Master’s Office. “Simply nothing seems to happen at the Master’s Office. The Master’s Office is corrupt to its core.” She went on to say that the state of the infrastructure leaves a lot to be desired.
The leader of the official opposition, UMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) in the NA, Dr John Hlophe, said MK was vehemently opposed to the budget cuts. He said lower courts are understaffed and working conditions deplorable. The budget cut can only make matters worse.
He said magistrates postponed 40 cases daily due to the lack of capacity in the courts and there were too few foreign language interpreters. This, he said, affected the waiting period “and there are people languishing in prison as a result of this”.
Mr Steve Swart of the African Christian Democratic Party also lamented the conditions of the Master’s Office and asked for urgent intervention. He said instead of a budget cut, the SIU needed more funding “to collect the billions” of rands lost to crime.
Rajaa Azzakani
19 July 2024
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