Hon Chairperson, Minister and Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, members of Parliament, all distinguished guests, the authors of the Constitution 1996 ensured that the picture of transformation and the advancement of human rights were clearly imagined or understood once a person read our Constitution. With that transformative vision at the back of our minds and with this Minister at the head of this department, as well as at the head of the Justice and Crime Prevention cluster, Cope had hoped that this department would exceed our expectations. However, cracks within the department soon surfaced.
Before I deal with these cracks, one cannot help but wonder what the content of the service agreement is that the Minister entered into in April 2010, given the fact that this has never been made public. Perhaps this is the ideal time to make this document available.
This department gives reasons and more reasons why it simply cannot get a clean audit. I do acknowledge the hard work of all the senior officials in the department, but for how long should we listen to these reasons? Noncompliance, when it comes to taxpayers' money, is a grave concern. South Africans want to know that their monies are well spent and accounted for. Cope looks forward to the next audit report.
One also reads too many articles about postponed court cases. This is a democratic shame. One case of rape and murder was postponed 50 times, while another rape case was postponed 48 times. In another Western Cape High Court case, the husband allegedly killed his wife and the case only commenced three years after the event. The current systems in this department have absolutely no regard for the victims of crime.
I could not believe my ears when Judge Mojapelo informed the Portfolio Committee of Justice that judges had to wait for 18 months for their stolen computers to be replaced. All this is happening under the reign of this Minister. A whole year and a half went by and this department was still "attending to it".
Properly resourced court libraries are, as they say in Afrikaans, "so skaars soos hoendertande" [as rare as hen's teeth]. How can that be?
The portfolio committee also heard elaborate reasons why missing court records were still a phenomenon in the year 2012. We cannot even keep track of technological development. Missing court records should simply never occur.
I want to highlight another crack, in the words of Judge Mojapelo. He writes as follows:
Prisoners must be provided with a separate point of entry to the court building. In the judges' parking area in the basement of the court building, prisoners, whether shackled or not, often walk past judges. This includes judges who are either about to sentence or have just sentenced such prisoners for long periods in jail.
Cope states that it is only a miracle that none of the judges have been physically attacked by one of these prisoners. This department cannot afford to compromise on the security of the judges.
The young black face of poverty demands access to justice. It is this lack of access and the granting of bail in a manner that people don't understand, as well as the never-ending postponement of court cases that lead to mob justice in our society. Cope is anxiously waiting to hear what concrete educational programmes the department intends to conduct through the media to ensure that South Africans understand, firstly, why accused people get bail and that this does not mean the accused is not guilty; secondly, what measures are put in place so that victims of crime are attended to immediately; and thirdly, why mob justice is not a solution. The list goes on. It is important that this department speaks to South Africans, since this society has already been labelled "an angry society".
Let me attend to another issue. It is correct that section 16(6) in schedule 6 of the Constitution talks about the rationalisation of courts with a view to establishing a judicial system suited to the requirements of the Constitution. We are glad that that is only about the structure of the court and not about court judgments. The Minister has confirmed that it is just about the structure.
Indeed, our judicial system is lacking in a number of ways. Cope welcomes the fact that the Judicial Services Commission and its alleged transformative role will form part of this debate. We all know that transformation is a far cry from the results obtained from this commission. As part of transformation of the judiciary, it is imperative that all members of the JSC know and understand the criteria that constitute an ideal judge. Cope is not so sure whether this is indeed the case.
Further to this, a number of media articles have surfaced that claimed that excellent candidates are refusing to accept nomination. According to Ms Mamphela Ramphele in today's Business Day, some candidates say they simply do not want to subject themselves to an appointment process they no longer trust or regard as credible or decent. As much as this is worrisome, the worst assertion made in this article, and according to facts, is that potential nominees say bluntly that they do not want to be members of a court led by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. If this is true, then we are sitting with a serious problem. Cope supports the restructuring of the JSC in order to ensure that we do not end up with judges who are regarded as having been shooed-in or overpromoted.
In conclusion, Cope supports this department only to the extent that it promotes and protects the Constitution of the country. [Applause.]