09 Mar 2016

The government has been working on ensuring that institutions of justice are accessible to citizens across the country, the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Mr Shaw Kgathi has told Parliament.

Presenting the Administration  of Justice budget proposal before the parliamentary Committee of Supply at the National Assembly recently, Mr Kgathi said that his ministry sought to be customer oriented and improve service delivery as part of the strategic objectives of the Justice department.

“Some of the significant 2015/16 milestones worth mentioning have been the establishment of new courts in Kang, Nata and Shakawe;  the completion of networking for purposes of Court Records Management Systems (CRMS) at the newly established Kang Magistrates Court, and the completion of the renovation of judges’ houses in Lobatse and Francistown, “ Mr Kgathi said. 

Other milestones include the delivery of the first mobile court for use by the traffic court and the commencement of its use in Ramotswa, Tlokweng,  Molepolole and Kopong, the minister said.

“The other two mobile courts are to be sent to Francistown and Palapye whilst additional two mobile courts are expected to be delivered towards the end of this financial year,” Mr Kgathi said. Furthermore,  he said that the judiciary has reached 100 per cent court automated case registration at all magistrate’s courts after CRMS had been rolled out to all operating magistrate’s court stations.

He also said his ministry had worked on strengthening the capacity of the Department of Administration of Justice in areas identified as having adverse impact on its operations.

“Such support has been extended through the establishment of its Ministerial Technical Unit (MTU) and Ministerial Tender Committee (MTC) with the necessary support staff. 

I am happy to report that structures are in place and operational,” Mr Kgathi said.

He outlined some of the challenges as magistrates’ courts lacking mini registries and some magistrates and court clerks not yet trained in the application of judicial case management (JCM).  

Mr Kgathi said his ministry planned to have all magistrates and clerks trained in the application of JCM in the 2016/17 financial year.

He said that some projects had experienced delays due to various factors.

“The construction of the Kanye Magistrates’ Court and the extension of the Broadhurst Magistrates’ Court commenced in January this year after experiencing delays due to the lack of implementation capacity, thereby overlapping into the 2016/17 financial year,” Mr Kgathi said. Ends