Deputy Chair, thanks to the hon Deputy Minister for the reply. Arising from that response, during our oversight function as "oversight practitioners" in Northwest, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, the concerns of awaiting-trial prisoners was, number one, that these student attorneys were doing what you could call double-booking, in terms of which they were supposed to appear in two courts at the same time.
So what happens? They just run around to postpone cases and nothing is done. This was confirmed by the heads of the Legal Aid Boards in those particular provinces. How do we address this attitude of these student attorneys?
Number two, there were complaints that these student attorneys were encouraging those awaiting-trial prisoners to plead guilty because then they would plead for mitigation for them. That's what they were doing. Hence many awaiting-trial prisoners are refusing the services of these Legal Aid Board representatives who are student attorneys because of this attitude. How do we address this? Thanks, Chair.