presentation to the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services 08 july 2014

Presentation to the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services

08 July 2014

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF JUSTICEREPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE

• Introduction• Journey Map 2010-2014• Highlights of Achievements – 2013/14• Mandates• Operational Framework of the OCJ• Budget• Human Capacity• Priorities• Operational Plans: 2014/15

• Institutional Challenges/Constraints• Concluding Remarks

PRESENTATION OUTLINE


• The Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) is a National Department established to provide institutional support to the Chief Justice (administration of the Judiciary).

• Its functions as determined by the Minister for Public Service and Administration in terms of the Public Service Act 1994, are to:

- provide and coordinate legal and administrative support to the Chief Justice;

- provide communication and relationship management services and inter-governmental and international co-ordination;

- develop courts administration policy, norms and standards;

- support the development of judicial policy, norms and standards;

- support the judicial function of the Constitutional Court; and

- support the Judicial Service Commission in the execution of its mandate.

• The OCJ supports the Chief Justice in promoting regional and international judicial relations.

INTRODUCTION


JOURNEY MAP 2010-2014

Secondment of managers to the Chief Justice – 2008 Proclamation of the OCJ by the President of the Republic of South Africa on 23 August

2010 Determination of OCJ functions by the MPSA. Capacitation of the OCJ – SMS appointments and Acting SG : 2010-2013. The Memorandum of Understanding signed with the DoJ&CD on 26 January 2012 to

assign/transfer administrative support functions relating to the following: JSC SAJEI Constitutional Court, SCA

Appointment of the Secretary General (DG) – April 2013. 17th CAA and SuCA - legislation put into operation in 2013. Delegations provided to the OCJ to operate effectively (Minister (SuCA & PSA), DG

(PFMA).


HIGHLIGHTS OF ACHIEVEMENTS 2013-2014

OCJ Institutional Model’s Report submitted to Ministry (to inform policy).

Draft Strategic Plan 2014-2019 and APP developed and considered by NT

Capacitation of the OCJ – appointment of human capacity/critical staff

Building of internal controls and governance structures, e.g:

Appointment of the Audit & Risk Committee

establishment of the OCJ BAC

development of institutional policies

NEEC and PEEC established by Chief Justice

Judicial Norms & Standards approved and gazetted - 17th CAA and SuCA implementation

Approval of the OCJ Budget Programme Structure (preparation for separate OCJ Budget Vote) – by National Treasury on 12 April 2013.

Delegations to the SG by the Minister (SuCA and PSA) and DG (PFMA).

IT infrastructure implemented – migration and Judiciary IT Domain/website.

Budget 2013/14 - R123.9m & Expenditure 99.84%.

Judicial education - 52 seminars and 1472 trained

19 Judges recommended by JSC and finally appointed by the President


Constitutional Mandate

•Section 165 of the Constitution vests Judicial authority on the courts.

•Item 16 to Schedule 6 of the Constitution provides for the rationalisation of the courts with a view to establish a judicial system suited to the requirements of the Constitution (in consultation with Judiciary).

Constitution Seventeenth Amendment Act, 2012

•Designate the Chief Justice as the Head of the entire Judiciary.

•Empowers the Chief Justice with the responsibility o to establish norms and standards for the exercise of judicial functions

of all courts.o Monitoring of implementation of norms & standards in all courts.o Develop guidelines, protocols.

•Assign the Constitutional Court as the Apex Court.

MANDATES (1)


MANDATES (continued)Legislative Mandate•Superior Courts Act, 2013

o Rationalize laws and structures of the superior courts.o CJ exercise responsibility over the administration of judicial functions of all courts.o Judges Presidents to assume responsibility over coordination of judicial functions

of all courts within each province.•South African Judicial Education Institute Act, 2008 - The Chief Justice is the Chairperson of the SAJEI Council. SAJEI was established to provide judicial education to all Judicial Officers. The responsibility for the training of Magistrates has been transferred from Justice College to SAJEI since January 2012. •Judicial Service Commission Act, 1994 – The Chief Justice is the Chairperson of the Judicial Service Commission which inter alia is responsible for the recommendation of candidates for judicial appointment and dealing with complaints lodged against Judges. •Public Finance Management Act, 1999•Public Service Act & Regulations


OPERATIONAL FRAMEWORK OF THE OCJDue to the fact that the OCJ does not yet have a Budget Vote, it currently operates as follows:•In terms of transitional arrangements between OCJ and DoJ&CD – OCJ is still a sub programme in the DoJ&CD strategic plan. •Currently the OCJ is subject to the 2014/15 APP of the DoJ&CD.•The SG is the Accounting Officer in terms of SuCA but not in terms of the PFMA.


OCJ BUDGET VOTE PREPARATION: NATIONAL TREASURY CHECK LIST (1)

OCJ BUDGET VOTE STATE OF READINESS AS PER NATIONAL TREASURY CHECKLIST

REQUIREMENT STATUS – June 2014

Strategic Plan & APP • First Draft submitted to NT via DoJ&CD in August 2013• First Drafts of both the Strategic Plan (2015-2020) and APP

(2015/16) will be submitted to NT and DPME in August 2014.

Approval of budget structure by National Treasury • Completed - April 2013

Opening of the following accounts: a)PMG Accountb)Deposit account;c)Inter-departmental account;

d)Petty cash account; and

e)Charges account

• Completed - October 2011

Implementation of the IT Infrastructure (phase I) • 1ST phase (migration) completed June 2014.• 2nd phase (content management systems & unified

communication) planned to start July 2014. SITA to commence with Hardware Configuration for Transversal Systems

Creation of Transversal Systems - BAS, Persal, LOGIS • DoJ&CD to request migration of OCJ (transversal systems) from SITA-Target date for request 15 July 2014.

Warrant voucher books must be ordered from the Government Printer.

• Printing can only be done once the Vote is implemented- 30 April 2015


OCJ BUDGET VOTE PREPARATION: NATIONAL TREASURY CHECK LIST (2)

OCJ BUDGET VOTE STATE OF READINESS AS PER NATIONAL TREASURY CHECKLIST

REQUIREMENT STATUS – June 2014

The department must be registered as an employer at:

SARS • Completed - October 2011

Regional Services Council • No longer required

Compensation Fund • Subject to separation of budget vote from DoJ&CD – 30 April 2015.

Pension Fund • Completed - November 2011

Medical Fund • Completed - August 2011

Appointment of the CFO • Completed - October 2013

Appointment of a System Controller • Completed - June 2013

Appointment of the Audit & Risk Committee • Completed – May 2014


APPROVED BUDGET PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

• Approved by National Treasury (NT) on the 12 April 2013:

ₒ Programme 1: Administrationₒ Programme 2: Judicial Support & Court Administration

(inclusive of all Superior Courts)ₒ Programme 3: Judicial Education & Research

• Direct Charge/National Revenue Fund: Judges Salary


2014 - 2017 MTEF BUDGET (2014/15 SUB-PROGRAMMES OF OCJ WITHIN THE DOJ&CD VOTE)

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA


Office of the Chief Justice Budget Expend-iture

Current budget

MTEF budget

2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17

R’000 R’000 R’000 R’000 R’000

Constitutional Court (OCJ) 123 952 123 788 134 680 143 744 151 580

Supreme Court of Appeal 29 917 30 433 24 174 25 246 27 172

High Courts 451 342 451 342 366 424 389 824 430 005

Specialised Courts 67 591 51 647 38 821 41 968 45 885

Total 672 802 657 210 564 099 600 782 654 642

2014 - 2017 MTEF BUDGET(2014/15 INCLUSIVE OF SUPERIOR COURTS)



2013/14 2014/15 2015/16 2016/17 Total

R’000 R’000 R’000 R’000 R’000

Office of the Chief Justice

Actual expenditure

Current budget

MTEF budget

Programme 1: Administration

12 681 24 479 27 332 28 214 55 546

Programme 2: Judicial Support & Court Administration

617 627 507 772 540 027 591 334 1 131 361

Programme 3: Judicial Education & Research

26 902 31 848 33 423 35 094 68 517

Total 657 210 564 099 600 782 654 642 1 255 424

2013/14 EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS(EXCLUDING SUPERIOR COURTS)



Office of the Chief Justice Adjusted

Budget

Actual Expenditure

Variance

Programme R’000 R’000 % R’000 %

Programme 1: Administration 9 149 12 681 139 (3 532) (39)

Programme 2: Judicial Support & Court Administration

91 361 84 205 92 7 190 8

Programme 3: Judicial Education & Research 23 442 26 902 115 (3 460) (15)

Total 123 952 123 788 99.84 198 0.16

Economic classification

Compensation of employees 43 097 39 862 92 3 235 8

Goods and services 71 251 76 688 108 (5 403) (8)

Transfers and subsidies - 112 - (112) -

Machinery and equipment 9 570 7 126 74 2 444 26

Software and other intangible assets 34 - - 34 100

Total 123 952 123 788 99.84 198 0.16

.

UNFUNDED PRIORITIES/MANDATES: 2014/15-2015/16

A shortfall of R89.5m is estimated, indicated as follows:•Capacitation of OCJ (R6.5m shortfall)•Budget to implement the SuCA

• Capacitation of JPs offices (R10m)• Development of a judicial monitoring system re Court

Performance (R15m)•Judicial Education (R15m)•Rental of OCJ offices (R6.5m pa)•Additional furniture (R1.5m)•Envisaged additional operational costs as a result of transfer/delegation of functions (R15m pa estimate)•Envisaged additional remunerative costs as result of transfer/delegation of functions (R20m pa estimate)


OCJ ENGAGEMENT WITH NT VIA DOJ&CD RE UNFUNDED MANDATES

• 2014/15 Budget allocated to the OCJ was inflation based.

• The budget didn’t consider year by year growth ito mandates and support resources.

• NT engaged: economic climate; general budget constraints; reprioritization within departments baselines to fund shortfalls and new mandates.

• NT advised OCJ & DoJ&CD to deal with transfer/delegation of functions from DoJ&CD to OCJ first before it can consider additional budget to OCJ.


OCJ Staffing 2014/15



• Staffing - 266 posts with 146 (55%) filled and 120 (45%) vacant.• Second layer management has been appointed which constitutes

the OCJ Exco.

SMS Level

Filled Vacant and Unfunded Total

22 9 31

Level 1-12


124 111 235

OCJ HR Profile : SMS• Filled 71% and Vacant 29%• Gender: Male:73% and Female 27%• Race: Black 86% and White14%

SMS Level


22 9 31


Male Female Foreign Nationals

Total

A C I W A C I W Male Female

12 2 - 2 4 - 1 1 - - 22

OCJ HR Profile : Level 1-12• Filled 53% and Vacant 47%• Gender: Male:40% and Female 60%• Race: Black 87% and White13%

Level 1-12


124 111 235


Male Female Foreign Nationals

Total

A C I W A C I W Male Female 39 5 - 6 55 6 3 10 - - 124

OCJ PRIORITIESHighlights of priorities are:

• Securing OCJ Budget Vote

• Judicial Head Quarters (Home for the Administration of Judiciary)

• Smooth transfer/delegation of functions from DoJ&CD (Superior Courts)• Capacitation of the OCJ to carry current mandate (human & systems)• Judicial Case Flow Management

• Review/overhaul of Case Management Court Rules

• Judicially led Court Administration Model• Judicial education - e-learning etc• Judicial/Court Modernization – e-filing & e-records management, etc• Communication & Judicial Outreach Programme• Implementation of Legislation (17th CAA & SuCA)• Additional capacity for OCJ to carry new mandate• Capacitate Offices of the JP’s• Judicial Court Performance Monitoring System• Monitoring of the implementation of Norms and Standards


OPERATIONAL PLANS: 2014/15 • 2015 – 2020 Strategic Plan developed

• 2015/16 Annual Performance Plan developed

• OCJ Budget Vote approved by the National Treasury;

• Continue efforts to secure sufficient budget for the OCJ to execute its current and new legal mandates

• Judicial ICT Infrastructure deployed to enhance institutional independence (including upgrade to accommodate Superior Courts)

• 90% of funded approved critical posts filled

• Judicial Case Flow Management implemented in all High Courts

• System in place to monitor Court Performance & implementation of Judicial Norms and Standards

• Secretariat support to the JSC, JCC & JCT

• Management/reduction of Audit outcomes• 63 judicial education sessions/workshops conducted• Enhanced Curriculum Development & Learning Management • CJ Executive support & Judicial Stakeholder Relations managed


ENVISAGED PROJECTS

These projects are:

• Build Judicial Head Quarters - Home for the Administration of Judiciary for about 500 staff compliment (amount to be quantified by DPW).

• Court performance monitoring capabilities/system.• Communication Services – branding, stakeholder relations,

outreach (R30m).• Judicial Case flow Management (R15m).• Court Modernization – e-filing & e-records management, etc

(R18m).• Judicial education - e-learning, Printing facility, additional training

programmes for Magistrates & soft skills programmes for all Judicial officers.


INSTITUTIONAL CHALLENGES/CONSTRAINTS

• Inadequate office space – (current office space is 3105 m² - required office space: 4500 m²).

• Dependency on DoJ institutional support systems• Insufficient budget (resourcing: structure, systems,

infrastructure).• Lack of footprint in provinces to effectively support

Superior Courts (fragmentation of institutional structure and administrative processes).


The OCJ thank the Portfolio Committee for its guidance/support to ensure the OCJ is better positioned to deliver on its mandates.

CONCLUDING REMARKS


THANK YOU


presentation to the portfolio committee on justice and correctional services 08 july 2014

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