The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DoJ&CD) derives its mandate from the Constitution and a number of acts that assign functions to the department. These include the:
The NPA is allocated R1.3 billion over the next three years to support the implementation of the State Capture Commission and FATF recommendations. This entails
Accordingly, the number of prosecutions of state capture, fraud or corruption and related matters enrolled in the courts is expected to increase from nine in 2022/23 to 18 in 2025/26. Targets for a new indicator to measure the number of prosecutions involving money laundering charges are expected to be introduced from 2024/25 onwards, after establishing a baseline for such prosecutions in 2023/24.
Civil litigation will be initiated based on the special tribunal’s recommendations related to the state capture commission. To this end, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) is allocated R100 million over the next three years, which is expected to enable it to increase the number of cases enrolled at the tribunal from 35 in 2022/23 to 65 in 2025/26.
In its efforts to afford greater protection to citizens, particularly vulnerable groups, the department has moved towards a more gender‐focused criminal justice system. A key aspect of this entails implementing the recommendations of the Presidential Summit Declaration against GBVF and the National Strategic Plan on GBVF.
This includes establishing a targeted 40 sexual offences courts as designated courts over the next three years, and improving the management of the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO) to ensure the strict vetting of anyone working with vulnerable people. An allocation of R15 million over the medium term is available to support the establishment of sexual offences courts. The allocation does not affect the department’s budget as it is from the criminal assets recovery account.
Thuthuzela care centres are 24‐hour facilities where victims of sexual offences have access to all relevant services, including police, counselling, doctors, court preparation and prosecutors. The centres were introduced as a critical part of South Africa’s anti‐rape and gender‐based violence strategies, which aim to reduce secondary victimisation, improve conviction rates and reduce the time taken to finalise cases.
By mid-2023, there were 60 centres across the country. To strengthen capacity at these centres, R27.5 million over the MTEF period is reprioritised in the NPA programme was expected to appoint 15 additional personnel, who include site coordinators, victim assistant officers and state advocates.
This reprioritisation is from the NPS subprogramme’s compensation of employees budget as vacant posts for support services in the subprogramme were terminated. The department also plans to increase the number of centres to 68 by 2025/26 at an estimated cost of R15 million in the NPA programme. The department aimed to continue coordinating and contributing to the implementation of the National Action Plan for Combating Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerances.
This entails establishing an effective governance structure to lead and coordinate the implementation of the plan, developing a funding model, and establishing a rapid‐response mechanism for incidents of racist and xenophobic offences or hate crimes. To carry out this work, R5.1 million over the medium term is allocated in the State Legal Services programme. In 2022, President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law legislation aimed at strengthening efforts to end GBV, with a victim-centred focus on combating this dehumanising pandemic. The President has assented to the
The purpose of the Criminal and Related Matters Amendment Act, 2021 (Act 12 of 2021) is to amend the:
The purpose of the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act Amendment Act, 2021 (Act 13 of 2021) is to amend the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, 2007, so as to:
The purpose Domestic Violence Amendment Act, 2021 (Act 14 of 2021) is to amend the Domestic Violence Act, 1998, so as to:
The National Anti-Corruption Strategy, adopted by Cabinet in November 2020, has signalled the resolve of the Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) to deliver on its work. Building on the key tenets of the Constitution, the Anti-Corruption Legal Framework, the NDP and other instruments, such as international treaties, the strategy uses research and stakeholder inputs to outline actions needed to achieve a society free of corruption.
The strategy is a whole-of-society effort that envisions an ethical and accountable state, business and society, characterised by high levels of integrity and respect for the rule of law. It promotes active citizenry that is empowered to hold leaders and organisations accountable. It foresees a state where all members of society have zero tolerance for corruption.
This National Anti-Corruption Strategy provides a framework and action plan for the country as a whole and seeks to create a society in which:
The Anti-Corruption Task Team (ACTT) is a collective of government stakeholders tasked with implementing the government’s anti-corruption agenda. The multi-agency ACTT was formed in October 2010 to fast-track high-priority investigations and prosecutions on corruption-related matters through a multi-disciplinary and integrated operational approach.
The ACTT is a sub-committee of the Justice Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster. The ACTT is chaired by the head of the Directorate for Priority Crime and Investigations and co-chaired by the National Director of Public Prosecution (NDPP).
This multi-agency body has been tasked with strengthening and developing anti-corruption policies and legislation; ensuring compliance with bi-lateral agreements with other international law enforcement agencies; and improving the country’s international
standing and general public perceptions about corruption. The ACTT is made up of these agencies:
The purpose of the programme is to facilitate the resolution of criminal and civil cases and family law disputes by providing accessible, efficient and quality administrative support to the lower courts, and managing court facilities.
The purpose of this programme is to provide legal and legislative services to government, supervise the administration of deceased and insolvent estates and the Guardian’s Fund, prepare and promote legislation and undertake research in support of this.
The purpose of the programme is to provide a variety of auxiliary services associated with the DoJ&CD’s purpose. It also funds the Interdepartmental Justice Modernisation Programme and the President’s Fund, and transfers payments to public entities and constitutional institutions.
The Master of the High Court serves the public in respect of:
The Master’s Office has five main divisions, which are all aimed at protecting the financial interests of people whose assets or interests are, for various reasons, managed by others.
As part of the turnaround strategy in the Master’s Office, there has been a special focus on training frontline officials. The Master’s Office is also investigating methods to deliver a more efficient and effective service to the public through the Internet.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, in partnership with stakeholders from other partner organisations, is developing an enhanced version of case-flow management in the court environment.
To eradicate case-flow blockages workable solutions were adopted. These include:
Systems that support case-flow management in the courts include the Integrated Case Management System (ICMS). This system spans all disciplines of cases administered in the justice environment.
The Integrated Case Management System draws on several core modules to perform basic functions such as information warehousing, case numbering and document scanning.
The specific functionality for each court and office are then built on these foundations. The further development of the ICMS Masters System aims to create a Paperless Estate Administration System for the Master’s Office. This system will computerise the administration process in deceased estates, as all documentation will be scanned and stored electronically.
The system links magistrates’ courts to correctional detention centres via closed-circuit television. The development in this area of support to case-flow management for the courts has brought about a significant improvement in the movement of cases through the use of technology.
The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) Cluster departments have introduced a case backlog intervention to reduce the number of backlog cases in regional and district courts, and provide additional capacity to the backlog priority sites.
The intervention ensures that the inflow of the number of new cases is balanced by the number of matters concluded. The project deliverables have been integrated into the outputs of the JCPS Cluster Delivery Agreement.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has provided resources in the form of infrastructure, court personnel, the judiciary, magistrates and budget, in support of the prosecution and judiciary to remove these cases from the backlog roll.
