Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon members, heads of court and other members of the judiciary, heads of constitutional institutions, distinguished guests, comrades and friends, ladies and gentlemen, 27 years ago, in 1984, the people of South Africa marked the first anniversary of the United Democratic Front, UDF. On this occasion, one of its co- presidents said:
Sons and daughters, to me today I'm a great big mother, for today our multiracial baby is born. For today our baby that will rule this South Africa in future is born. The multiracial baby, the United Democratic Front, which is uniting the people to speak with one voice, which is uniting the people with the truth, which is uniting the people to say no to the Koornhof laws, which is uniting the people to say away with the new Constitution, because it doesn't give us freedom.
These were the words of our hero and stalwart, the late Mama Albertina Sisulu.
Today, because of the selfless struggle that she and so many others waged, we do indeed have a Constitution that seeks to heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights; a Constitution that provides us with both the vision and the institutional framework to guarantee to all South African - united in our diversity - human dignity, the achievement of equality and the advancement of human rights and freedoms. We must continue to work together to unite all in our society with this truth.
Government's five priorities of education, health, creating jobs, rural development and land reform, as well as fighting crime and corruption, are guided by this vision. Everything we do in the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is done in pursuit of realising the vision mandated by our Constitution of a transformed and accessible justice system, which promotes and protects social justice, fundamental human rights and freedoms by providing transparent, responsive and accountable justice for all. Hon Chairperson, next week we commemorate the 35th anniversary of the 16 June 1976 uprising under the theme, "Youth Action for Economic Freedom in our Lifetime", reminding us of the enormous contribution young people made and continue to make to our struggle for liberation and the need to realise the socioeconomic rights contained in our Constitution.
The legislative programme outlined by the Minister will require careful management and co-ordination by and between the National Assembly and the NCOP. In this regard, we look forward to regular interaction with the relevant portfolio and select committees and would like to thank Mr Luwellyn Landers and members of the portfolio committee.
Significantly, this programme contains the Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Bill - to which the Minister has alluded - which seeks, among other things, to lay the basis for establishing a transformed and united judiciary. This will involve, amongst other things, harmonisation of the work of the Judicial Service Commission and the Magistrates' Commission with a view to establishing uniform norms and standards for the appointment and handling of complaints concerning judicial officers.
I would like to thank Judge President Bernard Ngoepe for his sterling contribution over many years to the work of the Magistrates' Commission. Let me also congratulate Judge Frans Legodi on his appointment as the new chairperson. We are confident that, under his leadership, the commission will travel even further along the transformation highway.
In this regard, it is significant that, of the 80 newly appointed district magistrates during 2010 to 2011, 66 are black and 14 are white. Forty-six of these newly appointed magistrates are women. During the same period, 26 regional magistrates were appointed of which 23 are black and 3 white. Ten of these regional magistrates are women. During this period a total of 2 031 acting appointments of magistrates were made. We are exploring ways of using this process to further accelerate the transformation of our district and regional court benches, including making this process more open, transparent and structured and also enlarging the pool from which appointments are made.
The South African Judicial Education Institute Act of 2008 has already established a single framework for the training of judges and magistrates. With effect from April 2011, the judicial training programme of the Justice College has now been formally integrated into the programme of the SA Judicial Education Institute.
The council of the institute tasked the Chief Justice and the Deputy Chief Justice to direct the work of the institute with the assistance of appropriately qualified administrative staff. The first judicial education programmes will be implemented soon after the important Access to Justice Conference scheduled for 7 July to 11 July 2011.
Guided by the vision contained in the Constitution that Mama Albertina Sisulu struggled for, we continue to provide support to independent institutions supporting constitutional democracy, to ensure their independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness. We express our appreciation to Advocate Thuli Madonsela and Advocate Lawrence Mushwana and members of the Human Rights Commission for their excellent work.
We also continue to work with civil society to promote access to justice. The department's Access to Justice and Promotion of Constitutional Rights Programme has moved with speed in utilising more than R200 million to provide a number of grants to civil society organisations through the Foundation for Human Rights. We thank Ms Yasmin Sooka and other members of the foundation.
Priority is being given to the most vulnerable in society - women and children, rural and urban poor communities, farmworkers, people affected by HIV and Aids, child-headed households, people affected by violations of human rights, the aged, persons with disabilities, the youth, including children in prisons, and foreign nationals in need of assistance. We thank the European Union for their support and partnership in this vitally important programme.
Legal Aid SA has been very effective in utilising a budget of more than R1 billion to execute the constitutional imperative of providing legal aid to indigent accused persons and vulnerable litigants. Legal Aid SA now provides legal aid services at all our criminal courts through a national network of 64 justice centres and 64 satellite offices staffed by 1 600 salaried in-house legal representatives and by access to over 4 500 accredited lawyers.
During the 2010-11 financial year, Legal Aid SA provided legal services in 421 365 matters, comprising assistance in 389 914 criminal matters and 31 451 civil legal matters. Through these legal services, 25 586 children were assisted in criminal matters and 2 529 children in civil matters.
The Legal Aid Advice Line was launched in November 2010, facilitating telephonic access to primary legal assistance by persons from across the country and especially from rural areas. Since then, the Legal Aid Advice Line has assisted over 13 926 callers. We thank the Judge President of the Labour Court Judge Dunstan Mlambo, and the chief executive officer Ms Vidhu Vedalankar.
The SA Law Reform Commission continues to make an invaluable contribution to the development, improvement, modernisation and reform of our law through their research and recommendations. The focus of the Statutory Law Revision Project is to ensure the constitutionality of the entire Statute Book. The commission will play an important role in the review of the civil justice system, which is one of our flagship projects in the 2011 Medium- Term Expenditure Framework cycle. We thank the chairperson, Judge Yvonne Mokgoro.
In this regard also, the department will, through the Sheriffs' Transformation Programme, strengthen the regulatory framework to address the transformation challenges in the appointment of sheriffs and the service and execution of civil processes. We thank the outgoing chair, Judge Nathan Erasmus, and the acting chairperson, Ms Charmaine Mabuza.
When it comes to access to justice, the Small Claims Courts demonstrate clearly that size does matter - and that small is big. We continue to increase both the number and the capacity of our Small Claims Courts. We have, to date, established 224 Small Claims Courts - 26 during the past year - with the emphasis on rural and remote communities.
In addition, 17 inactive Small Claims Courts were revived and 229 commissioners were appointed during the past year. We are on course to establish a Small Claims Court in each of our 384 magisterial districts. The monetary jurisdiction of Small Claims Courts has been increased from R7 000 to R12 000.
Awareness of the Small Claims Courts has increased. During the past year no fewer than 400 000 cases were dealt with in our Small Claims Courts. We thank the Swiss Agency for Development, all the commissioners and clerks of the Small Claims Courts and also those Members of Parliament who helped to establish Small Claims Courts in their constituencies.
As hon members know, all magistrates' courts are now designated as Equality Courts. This has resulted in an increase in the number of cases enrolled at these courts from 447 in 2008-09 to 508 in 2009-10.
The United Nations Human Rights Council and the General Assembly have adopted a resolution declaring 2011 the International Year for People of African Descent, to mark the 10th Anniversary of the World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance. The department will be working with all sectors in our society to finalise our National Action Plan to Combat Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance.
In a fortnight, we will be celebrating the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on 27 June 1981, and later this year, on 21 October, we will celebrate the 25th anniversary of African Human Rights Day, the day in 1986 on which the African Charter came into effect.
During the past year we have, together with the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, participated in a number of international fora relating to justice matters. One of these was the Review Conference of the International Criminal Court held in Kampala in June 2010.
Our support for the International Criminal Court is a principled one that reflects our commitment to the foundational values of our own Constitution as well as to those of the African Union. The AU Constitutive Act affirms the sovereignty of the state as represented by the people, not just governments. It grants participation of African people in the activities of the all and promises never again to be blind, deaf or mute to the evils of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, by granting powers to the Union to intervene in states where these crimes are committed.
Speaking at the Second Conference of African National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in Durban on 1 July 1998, former President Nelson Mandela said that:
We have sought to ensure that the International Criminal Court is guaranteed independence and bestowed with adequate powers. Our own continent has suffered enough horrors emanating from the inhumanity of human beings towards human beings. Who knows, many of these might not have occurred, or at least been minimised, had there been an effectively functioning International Criminal Court.
African states were amongst the most ardent proponents of the creation of the International Criminal Court during the negotiations leading to the adoption of the Rome Statute. It is also no accident that, with 31 states that are party to the statute, Africa remains the biggest single regional bloc in the Assembly of 115 states party to the Rome Statute.
South Africa views the International Criminal Court not in isolation, but as an important element in a new system of international law and governance. The importance of the International Criminal Court needs to be seen in the context of the need for the fundamental reform of the system of global governance.
As President Jacob Zuma has said:
We argue that the affairs of the world of today cannot continue to be managed by the existing institutions of global governance unless they undergo fundamental reform.
In this regard, and in relation to the International Criminal Court, former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, speaking during the opening session of the Review Conference in Kampala, said:
... and questions of credibility will persist so long as three of the five permanent members of the Security Council refuse to reconsider their position and join those who have taken the courageous step to become parties to the Statute. The same is valid for countries that aspire to permanent membership. Indeed, the problem is not limited to the Security Council. Six of the G20 have not ratified the Rome Statute.
It is the lack of transformation of these institutions, the UN Security Council in particular, that is responsible for the perception that the ICC focuses exclusively on Africa. The point has been made by, amongst others, our Chief Justice that this is the wrong perception. Of the five matters before the court, three were referred by African states. This does not mean that the prosecutor should not expedite the investigation of the many other situations elsewhere in the world.
Time does not allow me to address a number of important matters related to the SADC Tribunal.
In conclusion, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to the Minister for his comradeship, support and guidance on a personal level as well as for his principled and decisive leadership of the department and the cluster.
Our deep appreciation also goes to our ever hard-working and even-keeled director-general and the officials of the department, as well as to the long-suffering, ever diligent and sleep-deprived staff in the Ministry.
Lastly, but most importantly, my appreciation goes to my favourite member of the legal profession, the one from whom I receive the most excellent pro bono support, my wife, Kim Robinson. Thank you. [Applause.]