Sihlalo oHloniphekileko, namaLunga ahloniphekileko wePalamende, ngingalibali nakibo abavela ekorweni ekulu yomThetho Sisekelo, ngiyalotjhisa ngithi nina enakhula silibele. Akwande!
Ummongo engizakukhulemela phezu kwawo namhlanjesi uthi: (Translation of isiNdebele paragraphs follows.)
[Mr J B SIBANYONI: Hon Chairperson, Members of Parliament, and not forgetting those who come from the Constitutional Court, greetings to you all.
The theme today will be based on:]
Accelerated universal access to justice for substantive protection, promotion and fulfilment of the enshrined rights to human dignity, equality and freedom.
The National Democratic Revolution, NDR, seeks to build an open and free society in which discrimination finds no space to operate in, and to promote the quality of people's rights as well as the promotion and protection of human dignity.
The constitutional democracy should protect its people from crime and ensure that everyone has equal access to justice. The constitutional supremacy supported by the Bill of Rights enjoins the state to respect, protect, promote as well as to fulfil the rights contained in the Constitution.
The Constitution guarantees the right to equal access to courts in section 34 as follows:
Everyone has the right to have any dispute that can be resolved by the application of law decided in a fair public hearing before a court or, where appropriate, another independent and impartial tribunal or forum.
In common law, infants and minors were deemed not to have the capacity to litigate; however, the new Children's Act has extended the right to bring a matter before the court to all children. The Child Justice Act created a suitable justice system for children who are in conflict with the law. In this regard, access to justice has been extended to children, who are among the most vulnerable of our society.
I commend the department endeavours to bring justice services closer to the communities previously discriminated against to ensure their access to justice services as required by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
In the 52nd National General Council held at Polokwane in 2007, the ANC resolved, among other things, that all official languages are to be used in the courts so as to enhance access to justice. No one should be excluded from meaningful participation in the court proceedings due to language barriers. The Constitution recognises this objective in section 6(2), namely:
Recognising the historically diminished use and status of the indigenous languages of our people, the state must take practical and positive measures to elevate the status and advance the use of these languages.
The Constitution is referring to the effective use thereof to ensure equality as section 9(3) also prohibits discrimination on the basis of language.
The department aims to build courts to provide required justice services to people. This includes improving the quality and quantity of justice services, providing justice in people's indigenous languages, including Braille and sign language, educating the public about their rights and transforming courts to comply with their constitutional mandate of a self- sufficient and trusted arbiter of individual and societal conflicts.
Universal access to justice needs to recognise that since 1652 when Jan van Riebeeck arrived in the Cape of Good Hope bringing along Roman-Dutch law with him, through to 1795 when the Cape was under British control for the first time to date, South Africa has been and remains a hybrid legal system. In that regard customary law, as applied mainly by traditional courts, persists concurrently with common law and statute law as applied by western courts across their jurisdictions. In this regard, Polokwane resolved that traditional courts must be aligned with our constitutional dispensation and that our indigenous law be incorporated and developed.
The colonial judicial system did not recognise African indigenous jurisprudence. When apartheid showed recognition for customary law, through the then Native Administration Act, which was later called the Bantu Administration Act and currently the Black Administration Act, it was in order to create a system for subjugating and suppressing Africans - thus some of the customary law provisions and sanctions offend against our Constitution.
In that regard, it is important that indigenous law be revived and its integrity restored. However, reviving the integrity of indigenous law without mainstreaming it and recognising traditional courts will not be sufficient for ensuring universal access to justice. It is thus important that traditional courts be enabled to comply with the Constitution regarding equal treatment of all legal subjects regardless of gender or lineage. The Traditional Courts Bill has been prioritised for this year, 2010. The so-called Black Administration Act of 1927 will be abolished, that is repealed, during this year.
Economic inequality affects access to justice such that the poor who find themselves on the other side of the law do not have the means to secure legal representation and, were it not for state intervention through the Legal Aid Board, many people would be convicted of crimes they never committed as a result of lack of legal representation. [Time expired.] The ANC supports this Budget Vote.
Ngiyathokoza, Sihlalo. [Iwahlo.] [Thank you, Chairperson. [Applause.]]