Sharing information with different stakeholders in order to ensure that we are all on the same page is critical for the Criminal Justice System (CJS) Review, says Advocate Peter Durandt, Chief Director of Court Services.

He was addressing a two day workshop on 4 and 5 June in Pretoria, organised by the CJS Review Team, which is located by structure, in Justice Director General Menzi Simelane’s Office.  During the workshop, stakeholders discussed a report with recommendations on the CJS Review, which was compiled with the help of independent researchers from KPMG. The CJS Review Team is tasked with identifying challenges which have an impact on the efficiency and effectiveness of the system. A series of workshops have been undertaken throughout the country over the past year, to collect information, discuss the system with all stakeholders and to consult with the public.

A number of recommendations have been made and will be circulated to all Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) cluster departments and related departments outside the JCPS. Newer stakeholders in the process will also be consulted, to ensure that the relevant, newly formed departments can also contribute and play the appropriate roles in the CJS Review.  

The involvement of all stakeholders is a vital step. Amongst the challenges identified in the report are coordination and cooperation within the cluster and capacity in dealing with referrals for mental observation, which can cause delays in service delivery and court processes.

During the workshop various inputs were compiled on the content of the report as it stands, ahead of its submission to Adv Simelane. Once received, the Director General will apply his mine to the report before approving it, and thereafter submit it to Cabinet for deliberations. 

Over the past year, the researchers compiled and sourced best practice from other countries to benchmark with the South African CJS. In addition, existing recommendations from the Khampepe Commission, Presidential Review Commission, Portfolio Committee on Safety & Security as well as the African National Congress Polokwane Resolutions, were integrated to evaluate the current model of the CJS. The report contains findings regarding the organisational structure and the governance practices of the CJS and the coordination and cooperation between and within the role players of the system. It also covers capacity, witness statements, referral for mental observation, performance evaluation at international level, measurements of conviction rate, bail, inquisitorial adversarial legal systems and lastly the causes of overcrowding in prisons.

During the State of the Nation Address in Parliament last week, President Jacob Zuma stated that, government will strive for a transformed and effective Criminal Justice System and that the process  will eventually assist Cabinet to deliberate and make decisions which will give the sector the capacity it needs to be more effective.

By Lazarus Mothupi