Justice & constitutional development minister Mmamoloko Kubayi on Friday experienced first-hand some of the challenges faced by South Africans trying to access court services.
Kubayi, deputy minister Andries Nel and director-general Doctor Mashabane visited the Johannesburg Master’s office and the Kempton Park and Thembisa magistrate’s courts.
On arrival at the Johannesburg Master’s office, they were met by frustrated people in a long queue outside, with no service being rendered as there was a power outage. They were told they would be assisted when power was restored.
“I came here to get a letter of authority. It is my first time coming here,” said Piet Ramedi. He said officials instructed them to stand in the queue outside the building. “We can only hope the electricity will be back soon and they will help us. If it doesn’t, that means I have to come back on Monday.”
The minister’s visit was aimed at enhancing access to justice, improve service delivery and address operational challenges through engagement with stakeholders, court officials and the public.
Some of the officials at the Master’s office complained that outages usually affect the water supply, which makes it difficult for them to work. Officials in one of the units told Kubayi their online system was extremely slow during the day which had prompted them to start work as early as 7am.
Elsa Wloschowsky, an attorney in Johannesburg, said the minister’s visit gave her an opportunity to raise her frustration about the office. “You drive, you reserve the morning to come to this office and the next thing you can’t get in the building because of the electricity,” she said.
She said she had suggested to the minister that the administration of estates should be simplified and either solar panels or a generator installed.
Kubayi said: “There is no electricity. The building is not conducive — I have to walk the stairs. The lifts are not working. I said if this is what our staff has to go through I will go through [it]. So we walk up to the eighth floor to the offices.”
She said she would be reaching out to the minister of public works about providing a backup generator.
“Remember these are the most vulnerable people who have to come here. It is a widow who had just lost her husband, they needed a letter of authority. Some of them need those letters so that they can bury their loved ones and they are not able to get a service.
“And today being Friday, others are supposed to bury their loved ones over the weekend. Because there is no electricity, the system is not working; it means they turn back unassisted.
“Some actually borrow the money to come in and get a service. It’s those things that one worries about and citizens will not be happy about this in terms of needing the government service and going back without receiving help, she said.
Employees have complained about the digital network, problems that the department needs to solve, she said. The department has decided to put most of its services online to have a better interface with communities.
“Again, with those who are dealing with liquidators, the team has raised even [the issue of] safety to our officials, as they go to meetings being threatened to say why are you not appointing this one [liquidator]? But also a possibility of our officials being corrupted because one needs to be appointed,” she said.
“The efficiency, the effectiveness of functioning of this office is critical for us and getting the basics right.”
She added their visit to Kempton Park magistrate’s court was to understand the challenges faced by officials there who deal mostly with foreign nationals. “We have to employ quite a number of interpreters in different languages,” she said.
TimesLIVE
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