Speeches

Address by the Hon Andries Nel, MP, Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development at the Closing of Access to Justice Week 2026, Thulamahashe, Bushbuckridge, Mpumalanga, 14 August 2026

Programme Directors, Mr Baloyi and Ms Mashangwane,

The Hon BA Majuba, MEC for Finance in Mpumalanga,

Hosi A Nxumalo and representatives of Contralesa and the Local House of Traditional Leaders,

Adv SJ Ntuli, Director of Public Prosecutions Mpumalanga,

Her Royal Highness E Mogane, Commissioner of the Commission for Gender Equality,

Ms K Mashiteng-Speelman, representing the South African Women Lawyers Association,

Cllr MP Gumede, MMC for Public Safety, Security, Disaster Management in Bushbuckridge Local Municipality,

Cllr LC Shakwane, MMC for Disaster Management in the Ehlanzeni District Municipality,

Magistrate T Usinga from Thulamahashe Magistrates Court,

Mr S Masinga, Commissioner of the Small Claims Court,

Ms HL Moyane, Head of Department of the Mpumalanga Education Department,

Ms N Maanda, Director: Legal Administration and Advocacy and Registrar of the National Register for Sex Offenders,

Adv B Africa, Chairperson of the Rapid Response Task Team on Trafficking in Persons,

Sign Language Interpreters, Ms Z Sibane and Ms J Matsheula,

Representatives of the judiciary and the legal profession,

Representatives of government departments and institutions, members of civil society, members of the media, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, members of the communities of Thulamahashe and Bushbuckridge,

Dumelang. Lotjhani. Sanibonani. Molweni. Ndi matsheloni. Avuxeni. Goeiemôre. Good morning.

It is a privilege to be with you as we bring Access to Justice Week 2026 to a close and open the door on the ongoing work of ensuring access to justice. We began this week in Galeshewe in the Northern Cape.  Across the country, justice officials, legal practitioners, Chapter 9 institutions, civil society organisations and other government departments have been going out into communities.

Here in this area alone, approximately 500 people had already been assisted before today's event in communities including Thulamahashe, New Forest, Songeni Village, Rolle, MP Stream, Kumani, Tsuvulani, Demulani, Eighteenburg, Landela, Wisani and Buyisonto.

That tells us something important. People need justice services. But it also tells us something more important: Justice cannot simply wait for people to come to it. Sometimes justice must go to the people. That is what Access to Justice Week is about.

What do we mean by access to justice? We use the words "access to justice" very often. But what do they mean to an ordinary person? They mean something very practical.

If somebody owes you money and refuses to pay you, where do you go? If the father or mother of your child refuses to pay maintenance, what can you do? If you are being abused in your own home, how do you obtain protection? If a family member dies without a will, what happens to their property? If you are arrested, what are your rights? If you cannot afford a lawyer, where can you get help? If you believe that a government official has treated you unlawfully, who can you approach?

These are not abstract legal questions. They are questions about people's lives. And that is why I want to suggest today that access to justice means at least four things.

• Justice must be close enough to reach.
• It must be simple enough to understand.
• It must be affordable enough to use.
• And it must work well enough to make a difference.

Justice must be close enough to reach

We are speaking today in Thulamahashe. This court has served this community since 1982.

Today the District Court serves approximately 140,000 people in Thulamahashe, Islington and surrounding areas. The Regional Court situated here serves the wider Bushbuckridge sub-district — a population of approximately 750,000 people.

Those figures tell us why the location of courts matters. For someone with a car, travelling another 50 kilometres may be inconvenient. For someone who depends on a taxi and has R100 in their pocket, that distance can be the difference between obtaining justice and giving up.

That is why democratic South Africa has been working to undo the geography that apartheid imposed on our justice system. In December 2024, Thulamahashe, Acornhoek and Mkhuhlu were formally proclaimed as places for the holding of court under the Bushbuckridge sub-district, with effect from February 2025.

That may sound like an administrative decision in a Government Gazette. But its purpose is profoundly practical: to bring justice closer to where people live. And we must continue that work. Access to justice cannot depend on your postal code. A person living in rural Mpumalanga has exactly the same constitutional rights as a person living in Johannesburg, Cape Town or Mbombela.

Justice must be simple enough to understand

The second requirement is that people must understand the justice system. This is a multilingual community. Xitsonga, isiNdebele, siSwati and English are widely spoken here. A justice system cannot call itself accessible if people walk into a court and cannot understand what is being said.

Nor is language only about translation. Lawyers and government officials sometimes speak a language of our own. We speak about "applicants", "respondents", "jurisdiction", "pleadings", "processes" and "prescribed forms". Those words may be necessary inside the legal system. But the person standing at the counter has a problem that needs to be solved.

Our responsibility as public servants and legal practitioners is not to demonstrate how much law we know. It is to help that person understand what they can do. That is why legal literacy is so important. A right that you do not know about is a right that is very difficult to exercise.

Justice must be affordable enough to use

Thirdly, justice must be affordable. The Constitution says that everyone has the right to have disputes decided fairly by a court or another independent tribunal or forum. It does not say that this right belongs only to people who can afford lawyers. That is why institutions such as Legal Aid South Africa are so important.

And Legal Aid is not only about defending people accused of crimes. Depending on the circumstances and qualification requirements, Legal Aid South Africa can assist people with civil matters as well — including housing and eviction disputes, family matters, land-rights matters and other situations where people's rights are threatened.

It is also why we have Small Claims Courts. If you lent somebody R5,000 and they refuse to repay you, it makes no sense to spend R20,000 employing lawyers to recover R5,000. The justice system must provide remedies that are proportionate to people's problems. That is why Small Claims Courts matter. That is why community advice offices matter. That is why pro bono work by the legal profession matters.

That is why I want to appeal directly to the legal practitioners who are here today. Your professional responsibility does not end at the doors of your offices or chambers. South Africa needs lawyers who are part of their communities. Lawyers who sometimes give their time without asking what they will be paid. Lawyers who help people understand the law. Lawyers who remember that the law is ultimately a public service.

Justice must make a difference

But there is a fourth requirement. It is not enough that a court exists. It is not enough that somebody manages to reach the court. It is not enough that they fill in the correct form. The system must actually work.

And this is where the statistics from Thulamahashe become important.

Between 1 April and 31 July this year, this court registered 194 domestic-violence matters. That is almost 200 domestic violence matters in four months. It registered 98 maintenance matters. There were also 38 Small Claims Court matters and 85 criminal matters.

Behind every one of those numbers is a human being. Behind a maintenance case may be a mother trying to buy food and school clothes for her child. Behind a domestic-violence application may be a woman who has finally found the courage to ask the state to protect her. Behind a small claim may be a pensioner or worker trying to recover money that they cannot afford to lose. Behind a criminal case is not only an accused person. There may also be a victim, a family and a community waiting for justice.

We must never allow case numbers to become simply statistics on a spreadsheet. Every file represents somebody's life.

That is a message especially for those of us in government. When somebody comes to a court counter, they should not be sent from office to office unnecessarily. When a telephone is supposed to be answered, it must be answered. When a maintenance investigation must take place, it must take place as quickly as possible. When a case has to be prepared for trial, unnecessary postponements must be avoided. When our computer networks fail, we must fix them. When posts are vacant and those vacancies affect services, we must fill them.

Access to justice is therefore also about the quality of public administration. Batho Pele and access to justice are not separate ideas. They meet at the court counter.

A particular responsibility towards women and children

We are holding Access to Justice Week during Women's Month. This year marks 70 years since the historic Women's March of 9 August 1956. Those women marched against pass laws. They marched against a system that used the law to control people's lives rather than protect their dignity. Seventy years later, women enjoy constitutional rights that those courageous women could only struggle for.

But we also know that formal equality is not enough. The number of domestic-violence matters being dealt with here in Thulamahashe should concern every one of us. Gender-based violence cannot be solved by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development alone.

The police have responsibilities. Prosecutors have responsibilities. Magistrates and courts have responsibilities. Social workers have responsibilities. Traditional leaders have responsibilities. Schools have responsibilities. Families have responsibilities. Men, in particular, have responsibilities. And communities have responsibilities.

Our message must be unambiguous: Violence against women and children is not a "family matter" that society should ignore. It is not part of our culture. It is not something a woman must simply endure. It is a violation of her rights and dignity.

Traditional leadership and access to justice

I want to speak directly to our traditional leaders as well. Traditional leaders are an important part of the social fabric of communities such as these. You are often the first people approached when conflict arises. You understand the community, its history, its families and its customs. You therefore have an important role in promoting peaceful resolution of disputes, social cohesion and respect for the law.

Our Constitution recognises traditional leadership and customary law. It also requires all of us, government, courts, traditional institutions and communities, to uphold the values of human dignity, equality and freedom.

There should therefore not be a competition between constitutional justice and community leadership. We should ask instead: How do we work together so that a person with a problem finds help as quickly and fairly as possible?

Sometimes that help will come through community structures; sometimes through mediation; sometimes through a traditional institution; sometimes through a Small Claims Court; and sometimes a matter must come before a magistrate or another court. The important thing is that people must know where to go, who can help them, and what their rights are.

Thirty years of our Constitution

This year we celebrate 30 years since the adoption of our Constitution. That Constitution made a fundamental promise: South Africa would never again be a country in which the law belonged to some and not to others. Never again should the colour of our skin determine whose rights mattered.

Never again should political power stand above the law. Our Constitution says that everyone is equal before the law. That is an enormous achievement.

But after 30 years we must ask a harder question. Can everyone actually use the law equally? That is the challenge of access to justice. There is a difference between having a right and being able to exercise it. There is a difference between having a court and being able to reach it. There is a difference between having a remedy in law and knowing that the remedy exists. And there is a difference between obtaining a court order and having that order implemented.

So, as we celebrate 30 years of the Constitution, we must do more than reflect on what we have achieved. We must renew our institutions, and we must recommit ourselves to making constitutional rights real in people's everyday lives.

Justice is a shared responsibility

That brings me to everyone gathered here today.

To our public servants: every person who walks through the doors of a government office must be treated with dignity. We are not doing people a favour by serving them. We are performing the duties for which the public elects and employs us.

To our magistrates, prosecutors and other justice officials: efficiency and fairness are themselves part of access to justice. Every unnecessary postponement has real consequences for people.

To the legal profession: help us take the law beyond courtrooms and law offices. Give back to communities. Support legal education and pro bono work.

To our traditional leaders: continue helping us build communities in which disputes can be resolved peacefully, rights are respected and women and children are protected.

To civil society and Chapter 9 institutions: continue holding government accountable. A constitutional democracy needs institutions and citizens who are prepared to tell government when we are getting things wrong.

And to the community: Use these institutions. Ask questions. Do not be intimidated by the justice system. If you do not understand something, ask someone to explain it. If you need help, seek it. If you believe your rights have been violated, speak up. The Constitution does not belong to lawyers. The courts do not belong to magistrates. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development does not belong to government officials. They belong to the people of South Africa.

Beyond Access to Justice Week

As we close Access to Justice Week, there is one final point I want to emphasise.

We must not pack away access to justice when today's programme ends.

The people who need maintenance next week must still receive help. The woman who needs a protection order next month must still be assisted. The person with a small claim in October must still know where to go. The family struggling with a deceased estate in December must still receive assistance.

So Access to Justice Week must not be understood as an event. It must remind us how the justice system should operate every week. A justice system that is present in communities. A justice system that listens. A justice system that speaks in language people understand. A justice system that works with traditional leaders, civil society and the legal profession. A justice system that protects the vulnerable. A justice system that holds power accountable. And a justice system in which an ordinary person can walk through the door and know: This institution is here for me too.

That is the meaning of access to justice. Justice must be close enough to reach. Simple enough to understand. Affordable enough to use. And effective enough to make a difference.

That is the constitutional promise we must make real here in Thulamahashe, throughout Bushbuckridge, throughout Mpumalanga and throughout South Africa.

Ha khensa.