House Chairperson, the Judicial Matters Second Amendment Bill provides the legislative framework for the re-establishment of specially designated sexual offences courts.
These courts were first introduced in Wynberg way back and the intention was to improve the conviction rates for sexual offences cases, and they have proved to be a great success.
Since then, however, they have been reduced and have been dealing with mixed court roles although giving priority to sexual offences cases. The demise has been widely criticised due, mainly, to the negative impact that it has had on conviction rates for sexual offences. Now we know the scourge of sexual offences in our country and therefore we, as the ACDP, welcome this committee's initiative to introduce this Bill.
One of the reasons for their demise was that magistrates were not keen to sit on these courts exclusively. We have been able to address this concern to a large degree.
While we welcome the Bill, for it to make a real difference there must be a departmental plan that sets out targets for the rolling out of such courts with specific timeframes. While we also appreciate that there are budgetary constraints and that the department has budgetary constraints, clearly R20 million, as set out, is not sufficient to roll out these special courts countrywide.
It is a great concern that these courts can only be designated when the necessary funding has been made available for the infrastructure and the multidisciplinary services for the victims of sexual offences. Some of these courts that were previously established will be able to continue and have infrastructure in place, but this is clearly not enough.
The ACDP, from the submissions we received, appreciates that there is a degree of scepticism from civil society. We as MPs need to ensure, as part of our oversight function, that these courts are not only set up, but that they actually provide a better quality of services for victims of sexual offences than the ordinary courts. We cannot fail the victims of sexual offences. The ACDP will support this Bill. I thank you.