Ndi madekwana Mudzulatshidulo. Mudzulatshidulo ndi khou livhuwa na u lumelisa mira?o na lushaka. Ri?e vha EFF ri khou tikedza mugaganyagwama hoyu une wa khou humbelwa nga vha Ofisi ya Muha?uli Muhulu.
English:
Chairperson, the EFF takes the importance of the independence of the judiciary very seriously and we will guard that independence with all we have. The courts have often been the last line of defence for the people of this country, whose future was put at risk by a group of self-serving leaders whose only interest, was to line up their pockets and steal from the State resources that belong to the public.
One of the very few good things after 1994 was the proclamation of the Office of the Chief Justice as a department. This is to ensure an independent judiciary-led court administration system in order to fully realise the judiciary's institutional independence in line with the Constitution and the Superior Courts Act, Act 10 of 2013.
For this reason, there must be no reason whatsoever that the Office of the Chief Justice should at any time fail to do its work because of shortage of funds. If we are serious about the independence of the judiciary, we must begin to ask ourselves some serious questions. If the judiciary is dependent on Parliament and the Minister of Finance for its Budget allocations, what will then happen when the Parliament and the executive go on the wrong side of the law as they are beginning to be with the Office of the Public Protector? What happens when they refuse to finance the Office of the Chief Justice sufficiently?
We know that allocation of Budget is a deeply politicised thing in this country. When Thuli Madonsela wanted money for investigation of Mr Zuma on state capture, Mr Jamnadas Gordhan gave her that money without questions. Now, when Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane wants money to conduct serious investigations, she is denied that money.
Tshivenda:
Mudzulatshidulo, ri?e ri khou dovha ra humbela uri arali zwi tshi konadzea havha Muha?uli Muhulwane wa Ofisi ya Vhaha?uli, tshi humbela mugaganyagwama kha vha fhiwe gavhelo ?avho vha zwamasheleni vha sina u hanedza.
English:
While we applaud the work done by the Office of the Chief Justice, we a not quite pleased with the time it takes to fill some of the vacancies in our courts, including the Constitutional Court.
To preserve jurisprudential coherence, the Constitutional Court must have all the judges of the Constitutional Court appointed permanently and where vacancies occur, it must never take more than a year to fill those vacancies. For this reason, we must introduce measures to strengthen the Judicial Services Commission to ensure the adequate and speedily filling up of judicial vacancies, the training of judges and the qualitative transformation of the judiciary beyond numbers and demographics.
Tshivenda:
Ri?e vha dzangano ?a EFF ri khou dovha ra ri zwi nga ri takadza vhukuma arali ri tshi wana vhulamukanyi ha fhano Afrika Tshipembe
arali vhu tshi shumiwa nga tshi Afrika, uri vhathu vhashu vha swikele dzi khothe dzashu nga luambo lwavho lwa ?amuni.
English:
There is a general perception in society that justice is only the preserve of the rich and powerful and that it is only the poor that get condemned to jails, while the rich can buy their way out of accountability.
Tshivenda:
Ri khou toda hafhu uri vha vhulamukanyi vha tshi nga kona u swikelela hune vha thusa vhashai na kha vhupo ha mahayani uri ho?he ho?he vhulamukanyi vhu kone u swika husina u kon?elwa. Ri dovhe hafhu ri sumbedzise uri nga lutamo lwashu ari khou vha na fhulufhelo ?ihulwane kha Bili ya Khothe ya Zwasialala. Ndi mulayo une wa langula dzi khothe dza mahosi ngei mahayani, uri naa u do kona u thusa vhadzulapo vhothe vha Afrika Tshipembe naa?
English:
At a practical level, we need the Chief Justice to be more hands on in the supervision of the lower courts that is the regional courts and district magistrate courts.
It is at the level of the lower courts that most injustices happen, where accused people are kept in jail for years without trial and where magistrates sometimes act with impunity, in cohorts with corrupt local government officials.
One of the most important functions that must be performed by the Chief Justice is the training of judges and magistrates to interpret the law, without regard to political manipulations.
0ne of the lowest points of our judiciary was when the judge recently quoted a political slogan of "new dawn" when delivering his judgement, and made unfounded conclusions about alleged corruption at some state entities, based on nothing but public sentiment. 0ur judges must focus purely on law and not be swayed by populist right wing elements who want to capture them out of society.
The other issue we are concerned about as the EFF is the issue of establishment of the single judicial system in terms of section 166 of the Constitution. We also have the concern about the court directives in Gauteng High Courts where judge President introduced that all matters which are scheduled beyond 31st March 2020 are being scrapped out of the roll. We have plus 6 000 rough files which are outstanding and it is affecting the litigants who are claiming
against the Road Accident Fund and the Member of Executive Council, MEC, of health in Gauteng and Passenger Rail Agency, Prasa, as defendants.
The other concern is the court infrastructure and the maintenance. Most of our courts are outdate in terms of renovations, some the lifts are not working and air conditioners are not working. We would like the Minister also to push the Minister of infrastructure and Public Works to speedily fix the issue of the buildings.
Lastly, we want to appreciate your announcement of Land Claims Court for establishing legislation to appoint permanent judges on that court because that is crucial when we are focusing on the expropriation of land without compensation. The EFF supports this Budget Vote. Thank you, Chairperson.