Courts improve case finalisation rates

(Image: GCIS)

"The country-wide situation regarding the outstanding and backlog cases per court level has continued to improve. As at the end of December 2011, we had succeeded in reducing the backlog numbers to the lowest number of backlog cases 32 902 (15.9%) than in the past five years," he said.

Radebe, who is also the Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, said during the period April 2011 to December 2011, backlog courts removed 16 436 cases from the court rolls, with 77 additional backlog courts functioning at present (55 regional and 22 district courts).

"The Case Backlog Reduction intervention is yielding results. Between April 2009 and December 2011, a total of 40 298 were removed from the court rolls as a result of the additional regional and district backlog criminal courts.

"A total of 134 new prosecutors who graduated from the Justice College this past Friday will be deployed all over the country in order to further increase capacity around our courts. The impact will be the speedy finalisation of increased number of cases which has been a challenge in giving effect to provide access to justice," he added.

For the period April to December 2012, 327 818 cases were finalised. The High courts had a conviction rate on average of 84, 4% (752 cases); Regional Courts 74,2% (21 886 cases) and district courts 90,5% (185 884 cases).

A focus for 2012 will be...

"A focus area for 2012 will be increased attention to increase the case finalisation rate at all court levels in conjunction with all role players."

In an effort to minimise the delays in finalising cases on the court rolls, The Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) has initiated Case Flow Management and a process to set uniform norms and standards for the judiciary.

"Engagements are underway between the Chief Justice and the Heads of Court to ensure that norms and standards are used throughout the country in driving and improving performance in courts. This is consistent with tenets of the Constitution with regard to speedy justice," said Radebe.

Further measures now in place to assist with case flow management include the following:

• A High Court Case Flow Management (CFM) structure now in place, chaired by Judge President Mthiyane
  
• Lower Courts National Integrated CFM Committee (NICFM) led by the Regional Court President Monaledi is in place
  
• Provincial Integrated CFM forums are also in place, with most of the forums led by either the Judge Presidents of the provinces or the Regional Court Presidents
  
• A CFM Workshop is planned with all lower court NICFM stakeholders for 1 March 2012 to ensure synergy between Regional and National case flow management structures for effective coordination of CFM.

Meanwhile, Radebe said the strengthening of partnerships within the Criminal Justice System will remain a priority this year.

These partnerships, he said, will include communities, role-players within government, business, interest groups, media, municipalities, religious and youth formations as well as international law enforcement agencies.

"As part of improving service delivery, we are in the process of reviewing our 10111 operations in order to ensure the efficiency of the system. This may include the revised deployment of resources in order to make the system more effective.

"High-tech equipment, vehicles and other tools procured during the 2010 FIFA World Cup continue to be used to safeguard all people within the country," he said.