Chair, as the hon member is aware, the Judicial Service Commission and the Magistrates' Commission play a significant role in the appointment of judicial officers, in particular, in ensuring that the constitutional imperative of the need for a judiciary that is representative of the racial and gender composition of the South African community is realised.
It is both a constitutional imperative as well as a transformative policy of this government that all the courts must be rationalised in order to establish a judicial system that is suited to our constitutional democracy. It is through the process of the envisaged rationalisation of the courts that we will be able to achieve an equitable distribution of judges, magistrates, prosecutors and Legal Aid officers throughout the entire Republic. At present the appointment and distribution of all these officers of the courts is dictated by the nature of our court system, which I will briefly explain.
There are 13 High Courts spread throughout the Republic, but these courts are located in the former capital cities or main towns of the provinces of the old Republic of South Africa - Transvaal, Free State, Natal, the Cape of Good Hope; and the capital towns of the defunct so-called TBVC states - Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei. Not only were these courts located out of the reach of the poor and marginalised communities in the old Republic of South Africa, homelands and self-governing territories, but the areas of jurisdiction of these courts were also determined in a manner that dislocated and excluded these communities from the mainstream of justice and court-related services.
Accordingly, the 227 judges and the 597 prosecutor state advocates appointed across the 13 High Courts hear matters in the affluent centres like Grahamstown, Port Elizabeth and East London in the Eastern Cape, Bloemfontein in the Free State, and Kimberley in the Northern Cape, where the High Courts are located; while communities in far-flung rural areas such as Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape, Nkomazi in Mpumalanga and Lehurutshe in the North West have to commute hundreds of kilometres at high costs in order to access these courts.
There are in total 64 justice centres and 63 satellite offices attached to the High and lower courts countrywide, 14 of which are located in the former black areas and rural villages. These centres are staffed by approximately 1 850 Legal Aid attorneys who daily provide the indigent with legal advice and court assistance.
The communities who come from remote rural areas endure further hardships if a trial continues over a number of days, as they have to find accommodation for the duration of the trial. The situation is even worse if the cases are postponed a number of times, as this necessitates them having to undertake repeated trips to such courts.
The Constitutional Amendment Bill and the Superior Courts Bill, due to be introduced in this House soon, bring about fundamental changes in the organisational distribution of the High Courts. Not only does the Superior Courts Bill provide for the redetermination of areas of jurisdiction of the High Courts so as to increase territorial access but it also provides for the establishment of local seats and circuit High Courts within each division of the High Court in order to ameliorate the hardships endured by communities in remote rural villages.
For the first time, the Bill also establishes divisions of the High Court for Mpumalanga and Limpopo, both of which have vast rural areas that continue to be disadvantaged by the current arrangement that compels communities from these areas to access High Court services in Pretoria.
Similar to the High Courts, the location, distribution and areas of jurisdiction of the magistrates' courts remains steeped in the apartheid policy of the past. There are currently 761 magistrates' courts throughout the Republic. These courts are predominantly in cities, towns and urban areas and continue to exercise their pre-1994 territorial jurisdiction.
In terms of the legacy of the past, the magistrates' courts in the towns, cities and urban areas are better resourced and equipped, while courts in the traditionally black areas and rural villages continue to be serviced by the so-called branch courts and periodical courts.
Most of the branch courts are located in the buildings that housed the defunct commissioner's courts. These were buildings that were specifically designed for African people. They have poor architecture and the majority of them are in a state of disrepair. On the other hand, of the 147 periodical courts, 128 are housed in police stations. This still reflects the past legacy when police stations served as centres of detention and places of trial, and police officials doubled as prosecutors.
Branch courts and periodical courts are mainly designed to hear criminal trials. For civil and family law services, the communities have to travel for long distances to the main courts in remote cities and towns.
In terms of the Magistrates' Courts Act, Act 32 of 1944, magistrates are only appointed in the main courts. Branch and periodical courts do not have magistrates of their own. The magistrates from the towns and cities commute on a daily or periodic basis in order to hear matters at the remote branch and periodical courts. Consequently, the majority of the 1 724 magistrates will be concentrated in the towns and urban areas, and will spend time travelling between the courts in the cities and towns, as well as the branch and periodical courts.
The distribution of prosecutors shows a better picture, as prosecutors are appointed for both the main seats of the district courts in the towns, and the branch courts. Of the 2 568 prosecutors, the majority are in the main courts while a small percentage would be appointed to the branch courts.
To redress the legacy of the past, the department has embarked on a programme to upgrade the branch courts, turning them into full services courts that will provide all services, including civil and family law services, to communities. Of the 90 branch courts countrywide, 15 have already been upgraded, properly equipped and redesignated as proper courts, able to provide full services. All these redesignated branch courts are in former black townships and rural areas.
Through the rationalisation and redemarcation of the magisterial districts initiative, the department seeks to rationalise and align magisterial districts to be consistent with municipal boundaries.
Every magistrate's court and each of the 287 municipal areas is being adequately resourced and capacitated in order to meet the needs of the communities within the local municipality. Through this initiative new courts are being built in areas where there were none before. Through these efforts it will be possible to ensure an equitable spread of judicial officers and other court officers across the spectrum. In terms of its strategy, the department has set the year 2014 as the target to finalise the rationalisation of magisterial boundaries and the upgrading of the outstanding 66 branch courts.
As part of the rationalisation process, we have recently increased the jurisdiction of the 62 regional courts across the country to hear civil and divorce cases, which were previously dealt with by the recently abolished black divorce courts. I thank you.