1. (a) The National Treasury‘s mandatory baseline budget reductions were necessitated by the national fiscal constraints.
b) Any reductions in Legal Aid SA’s budget has an adverse impact as this affects the recruitment levels, i.e. number of employees as per approved establishment and consequently the court coverage.
c) There are no backlogs as pending matters’ turnaround times are monitored so that cases are not delayed unnecessarily.
2. Legal Aid SA is able to provide services at all courts in the Republic of South Africa through its practitioner per court model, meaning that there is a legal practitioner stationed in every court, responsible for taking all legal aid instructions in his/her or their assigned court. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development consults with Legal Aid SA whenever new courts are established, and provides necessary budget allocation.
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