ANC SUPPORTS JUSTICE’S MINISTER’S PLANS TO CHANGE LEGAL BREIFING PATTERNS

May 19, 2015

THE ANC in Parliament welcomes the announcement by the minister of justice and correctional services, Advocate Michael Masutha, that his department will in this financial year (2015/2016) introduce measures to change legal briefing patterns by government departments in the interest of transformation of the legal profession.

The minister made this announcement when he presented the budget vote of the justice and constitutional development department for debate in the National Assembly this afternoon.

We are pleased by this decisive step from the minister. It is important for us as a nation to transform the legal profession and ensure that junior and black legal practitioners do also benefit from the work related to litigation by government departments.

For many years now this has tended to be the preserve of white and male legal practitioners, which does not bode well for the transformation of the judiciary, and it has been a source of tensions within the legal profession.

In the same vein, we are also delighted that the minister also intends to table a bill in parliament that will introduce amendments to the State Attorney’s Act to provide for the appointment of the Director of State Litigation, at the level of a high court judge, who will be located within the office of the State Attorney General.

This will improve the capacity of the office of the state attorney general by turning it into a legal firm of choice for all government institutions and also ensure that there’s even and equitable distribution of work to all legal practitioners in the interest of transformation of the judiciary.

We also note that the department continues to do good work in providing access to the justice system through the on-going roll out of court services, especially in the rural and far-flung areas of our country where such services were previously not available to our people.

In line with this, the department has embarked on a process to realign the magisterial district courts with municipal boundaries to ensure that communities can access the courts services in their areas of residence.

The minister also intends to introduce a legislative framework to promote the use of indigenous languages in court proceedings in compliance with the Use of Official Languages Act.

As the ANC in parliament we would like to express our steadfast support behind these plans and we will play our part as lawmakers to ensure that they come to fruition.

We are encouraged to see the department taking concrete actions that are aimed changing the lives of our citizens, which is responsive to our targets and objectives as set out in the ANC election manifesto of 2014.

Statement issued by Dr Mathole Motshekga, Chairperson of the ANC Study Group on Justice and Constitutional Development, May 19 2015