House Chairperson, recent events in South Africa reminded us of the saying that if you are the accused in a criminal case, it may well be better to be guilty and rich rather than innocent and poor. The ideal, of course, is that justice should be blind.
The moral force of justice is universally depicted by lady justice, the well-known figure balancing the scales while being blindfolded. And while lady justice is best known as the Roman goddess Justitia, it is interesting to note that the ancient Egyptian goddess Isis is also sometimes depicted as holding the scales of justice. This blindfold represents the objectivity, impartiality and fairness with which justice should be handed out, regardless of the identity, wealth, power or social status of the person being judged.
This ideal has been encapsulated in several international human rights declarations, amongst others, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. Locally our Constitution also embraces these universal principles of equality before the law and the right to a fair trial, which in turn centres, amongst other things, on the right to legal representation at a trial.
The reality is unfortunately often far removed from this ideal. As is the case with many fundamental rights those most at risk of their rights being violated are the poor. In 1941, Justice Black in the United States' Supreme Court in the case of Betts v Brady said the following:
A practice cannot be reconciled with 'common and fundamental ideas of fairness and right', which subjects innocent men to increased dangers of conviction merely because of their poverty. Whether a man is innocent cannot be determined from a trial in which ... denial of counsel has made it impossible to conclude with any satisfactory degree of certainty that the defendant's case was adequately presented.
Apart from respecting and upholding fundamental human rights by making available legal aid to the poor, legal aid is therefore an essential part of an integrated approach to the fight against poverty. Locally, as the Minister has alluded, the Legal Aid Board was first introduced in 1969. The Bill under discussion seeks to replace this Act, and establish Legal Aid SA an entity founded on the principles of modern governance and administration. It is indeed fitting that this should happen to this institution as it is a shining example and possible case study for those interested in successfully implemented turnaround strategies.
Since the late 1990s the shambles that was then Legal Aid SA has been turned around and indeed the institution has received an unqualified audit for the past 13 years. For five of the past six years the Auditor-General did not even find any matters of emphasis. In this respect the financial governance at Legal Aid SA provides the answer to the question nowadays being thrown around about what a so-called "clean audit" really is, as if it is something unreal and unattainable.
We are, therefore, satisfied that this Act will enable Legal Aid SA to fulfill its core function and hopefully embark on a further process of modernisation, which should include addressing the perception that sometimes the quality of representation by Legal Aid practitioners is, to quote Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, "patchy at best."
The so-called unfunded mandates of Legal Aid SA remain a possible threat to the sustainability of the entity as well. The nugatory appeal of Legal Aid SA against the High Court order forcing it to pay for the legal representation of the families of deceased Marikana workers at the commission of inquiry unfortunately gave no final answers on this matter. The way in which matters like these will be handled in future should be clarified by this legislature as soon as possible.
Another popular saying on justice is that justice must not only be done, but also to be seen to be done. When becoming law, this Bill will assist Legal Aid SA to play its part in making justice a reality for those South Africans who are most at risk of having the scales of justice tilted against them. Thank you. [Applause.]