Chairperson, colleagues, this is indeed a very important occasion for us in the justice community to introduce a piece of legislation that brings pride to our country and nation. It makes us proud to be able to claim that we are one of the leading nations in the world that is able, at the state's expense, to provide free legal assistance to the indigent.
In fact, some two months ago Legal Aid South Africa convened an international conference in Johannesburg, which was attended by a number of countries, where we were able to share some of the positive experiences. This resulted in the United Nations' identifying South Africa as a model system that could be used anywhere else in the world, including the developed world.
The South African legal system is anchored in the rule of law, democratic values and principles enshrined in our democratic Constitution, and embraced by all our people, including of course, the ANC and its government. Section 28(1)(h) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, states that:
Every child has a right to have a legal practitioner assigned to the child by the state, and at state expense, in civil proceedings affecting the child, if substantial injustice would otherwise result; if such assistance is not provided. Section 35(2)(c) of the Constitution states that everyone who is detained, including every sentenced prisoner, has the right to have a legal practitioner assigned to the detained person by the state and at state expense if substantial injustice would otherwise result, and to be informed of this right promptly.
Hon members, whilst Legal Aid South Africa has a fine reputation for carrying out its statutory mandate, one of the main objectives of the Bill is to put in place a legislative framework that facilitates good governance. Let me also at this juncture acknowledge how, especially under the leadership of the current chair of the board, Judge President Mlambo, Legal Aid has been turned around from a situation where it was almost bankrupt to a situation where, for 12 years in succession, it has maintained clean records. And its financial status has remained sound.
The Legal Aid Act, 1969, the current Act, regulates matters relating to the provision of legal aid. The Act was passed in 1969 and has been amended on a piecemeal basis on numerous occasions. Its revision and substitution are long overdue, because many of its provisions do not accord with the changed circumstances. Furthermore, its application gives rise to challenges, often of an administrative nature, that are sought to be addressed by this particular Bill.
The Bill, amongst other things, therefore seeks to create an entity that is to be called Legal Aid South Africa, and that will be governed by a board of directors. This is the current practice. It will streamline the provision of legal aid by substituting the provisions of the Legal Aid Act, which currently gives rise to challenges and impact negatively on service delivery.
The new and important statutory mandate of Legal Aid South Africa, introduced by the Bill, is that it must provide education and information concerning legal rights and obligations to citizens. A new provision is inserted to enable Legal Aid South Africa to do quality control and assess whether the private practitioners who are contracted by Legal Aid South Africa to provide legal assistance are allocated to cases and are monitored properly to ensure quality in the provision of their services.
Allow me to emphasise that the right to legal aid that we as the ANC-led government are honouring is part of our commitment to ensuring access to justice for our people. Access to justice also includes making sure that justice is affordable to all, irrespective of their financial or economic status.
Let me thank the chairperson of the portfolio committee and members of the committee for the hard work they put in, and also acknowledge the continued leadership and support of the Director-General of the Department of Justice and Correctional Services and also express warm appreciation in particular to Judge President Mlambo for his continued leadership in ensuring that Legal Aid South Africa continues to be the excellent institution and organisation that it is. Thank you very much. [Applause.]