Hon House Chair, the Judicial Matters Second Amendment Bill is a committee Bill.
The Bill's purpose is to amend the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related Matters) Amendment Act, so as to enable the Minister of Justice to designate certain courts for the purposes of dealing with sexual offences and related matters.
The first sexual offences court was introduced in South Africa in Wynberg, Cape Town in 1993 as a pilot project, as an innovative measure to improve the prosecution and adjudication of sexual offences. The pilot project was a huge success that resulted in the rolling out of further sexual offences courts around the country. However, for reasons I will not go into, these courts became redundant.
It is important to note that, notwithstanding the absence of exclusive sexual offences courts, cases involving sexual offences have been heard and are still being heard in our courts. The demise of the sexual offences courts was criticised by many civil society organisations and NGOs who deal with such matters at the coalface. The amendment, as announced in the media by the hon Minister of Justice, provided for the reintroduction of sexual offences courts, and the Bill does this.
There is a need to provide a legislative framework that expressly authorises the establishment of these courts, and the Bill does this. We have been reliably informed that some 57 regional courts have been identified to be designated exclusive sexual offences courts.