Thank you, Chair. I am dealing with the issue of budget cuts. It is of concern to the committee as a whole. We do appreciate that all departments have been asked to tighten their belts, as the Minister of Finance has explained. However, the issue we are worried about is that everybody sees the importance for the country of the criminal justice system, in particular, working. If it's not able to work sufficiently because of inadequate funds, this will be a problem for the country as a whole. This is something the committee will be watching very carefully.
Another problem in the justice system that I wanted to deal with is the many actors in it. Outside of this Budget Vote, one has the police, correctional services, social development and social workers, as well as the Department of Public Works, which plays a key role in the upkeep of the courts. This is often an area where there are a number of problems. Within the Vote itself, one already has a number of actors, including judicial officers, prosecutors, court administrators and department officials. It is almost symptomatic that, because one has so many actors, things will go wrong. I want to appeal to all those actors - both those falling under this Budget Vote and those in other departments - to consider the importance of working together. Consider the end product also, particularly the people who are involved, whether it be the accused, victims of crime or litigants in civil disputes. Their needs must be respected and looked at.
I think it was the chairperson who mentioned that there appeared to be a problem of too many awaiting-trial prisoners sitting in custody, in prisons or police stations, when they should not be there. They should either have been released on their own recognisance - because the bail amount was not particularly high - or they should have been placed and some other arrangement made for them. As the chairperson said, we will be visiting prisons with the correctional services committee, particularly in Gauteng, to see for ourselves what exactly is happening.
Another aspect to which I really want to draw your attention also relates to the issue of the people in the system. I do so with reference to the case that the hon Minister also referred to, namely Director of Public Prosecutions for the Western Cape v Prins. The judgment was delivered last Friday by J Blignault.
The concern when you read the judgment, and the effect of the judgment, appears to be that 29 sexual offences are no longer offences that you can be punished for. This may have been as a result of an omission on the part of the legislature, but to suddenly rule that one can commit sexual offences and not be punished is really quite absurd. [Interjections.] There have been other judgments - including State v Booi, from 2010 in the Free State, and State v Mchunu, from 2011 in KwaZulu-Natal, which dealt with the same problem and didn't go to that extent.
Reading the judgment by J Blignault, I was reminded of a quote by Charles Dickens, "If the law supposes that, then the law is an ass." [Interjections.] I want to appeal to everybody involved in the justice system, particularly in the criminal justice system but also in the system of civil litigation, that the actors in the system and their needs are considered, rather than high academic views and Latin phrases.
In conclusion, the ANC obviously supports the Budget Vote of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and I want to thank everybody from the committee for participating in this debate. [Applause.]