The National Assembly sitting in the Good Hope Chamber. Photographer: Armand Hough / Independent Newspapers
Oversight visits to the Office of State Law Advisor, Master’s Office, court infrastructure, and Human Rights Commission are some of the priorities of the justice portfolio committee for this year.
This was revealed by justice portfolio committee chairperson Xola Nqola who briefed the media on the committee’s work and plans for the year during Parliament’s weekly committee cluster media briefing.
Nqola said the committee will conduct oversight and meet with the Solicitor-General. “The Office of the State Attorney has been beset by challenges serious, which include corruption, resistance to change relating to the implementation of policy, a lack of capacity, inadequate resources, infrastructure, technology and funding.
“Legal practitioners have complained about the payments by the Office of State Attorney beyond the targeted 30 days from receipt of invoices,” he said.
Nqola also said the committee would monitor the implementation of the legal sector code, which aimed to accelerate the transformation of the legal sector.
“You will recall some anti-transformation forces in the country have taken the legal sector code to court. We call on the Department of Trade and Industry and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to defend it with all they have.”
He noted that the committee was informed about the establishment of the legal sector charter council, that will oversee compliance with the legal practice code and also provide guidance and support stakeholders in the code’s interpretation.
“The committee will continue to monitor the progress closely in the year ahead.”
Nqola added that they would monitor the implementation of the critical gender-based violence legislation.
The MPs noted Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke’s observation that there continued to be significant expenditure on the integrated justice system but there was a lack of delivery of projects on the programme.
“The A-G highlighted the link between delayed projects for the mordernisation of the criminal justice system and the worsening case backlogs. This delays the realisation of integrated and modernised justice system across the cluster.”
He noted that the delays were attributed to procurement processes by the State Information and Technology Agency (SITA).
“The committee intends to meet with the department and SITA to gain a fuller understanding of the project and how the challenges may be overcome,” he said.
Nqola added that they fully supported the independence of the Chapter 9 Institutions and the work they ought to do within the parameters of the law and the constitution.
The committee is still to recommend the candidate to fill the position of the Deputy Public Protector and a vacancy in the Human Rights Commission.
He also said they would conduct oversight visits to the Human Rights Commission after they received complaints from staff and employees and held numerous meetings.
“We are to try to stabilise the Human Rights Commission so that it best performs its duties efficiently.”
Nqola also said they would also focus on playing an oversight on the court infrastructure.
“The committee knows the challenge concerning dilapidated and ageing court infrastructure. The committee is aware of factors falling outside the justice, particularly reliance on other departments and agencies especially the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure.”
He said the challenges with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure as well as poor court maintenance would be a priority during their oversight visits.
Nqola said while there was a provision for R1 million allocation to individual courts to deal with minor capital projects, the amount should be increased to R5m.
The Master’s Office, which had 14 employees dismissed last year, will also be prioritised by the portfolio committee, he said.
Asked whether they were satisfied that former justice minister Thembi Simelane was moved to the human settlements portfolio while the committee probed possible conflict of interest in connection with a loan she received from a company linked to VBS Bank while she was mayor of Polokwane Municipality, Nqola said they had provided a platform for the minister to not only account to Parliament but to the nation.
He said the issue was whether there was a conflict of interest in terms of the NPA, which was under her jurisdiction.
“Our job is not to get any satisfaction from any point of appointment, but we respect the constitutional espoused prerogative of the president to appoint any member of the Cabinet."
He also said they had obtained legal opinion regarding Simelane’s loan, saying they could handle the personal information of the Minister and only the information related to the accusation in a closed session.
mayibongwe.maqhina@inl.co.za