‘Boost funds or face court backlogs’

ATTORNEY General and Justice Minister Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana yesterday gave Government an ultimatum – allocate more money to the administration of justice or continue facing perpetual backlogs in the country’s courts.

An hour was not long enough for the Minister to make her impassioned plea to the National Assembly, and her 46-page speech was cut short half way through because of time constraints. Iivula-Ithana was upset by a request by Swapo Whip Ben Amadhila to “summarise” the last 20-odd pages of her speech, saying it was important that parliamentarians understood the constraints placed on her Ministry in the fair and speedy administration of justice.”I’m dealing with a huge, huge Ministry and sometimes we [MPs] behave as if we don’t know what’s going on.We need to educate ourselves as legislators,” said an irate Iivula-Ithana.The Justice Ministry is allocated N$211 million in this year’s State budget.Iivula-Ithana said in recent years the administration of the domestic violence and maintenance acts had placed an additional burden on the already small number of magistrates.Although Government will this year allocate more funds to the Justice Ministry for the appointment of 18 magistrates on a two-year temporary contract to reduce the backlog that has dogged the country’s lower courts for years, Iivula-Ithana warned that if a more permanent solution to boosting staff numbers was not found, the system would revert back to square one.”It is, however, important to note that this is only a temporary arrangement.If no further funds are allocated for the recruitment of more magistrates, this effort will only bear temporary fruit and at the end of that exercise, the backlog will start building again,” she said.During the 2005-06 financial year, the lower courts finalised more than 21 000 criminal cases, 12 485 civil cases, 628 labour cases and 932 cases in the children’s court.The High and Supreme Courts were not without their problems either, Iivula-Ithana said, noting the drastic increase in the number of appeals in civil, criminal and labour matters which had necessitated the appointment of acting judges on occasion.An insufficient budget, she said, would mean that such appointments would have to be limited and eventually result in backlogs in these two courts too.Prosecutors in the regions had no administrative personnel to assist them in their duties and it was becoming difficult to encourage them to remain in the civil service when private practice offered more attractive salary packages.One hundred and three prosecutors are employed in lower courts countrywide.The Prosecutor General’s office will receive a budget allocation of N$30 million.During the past financial year, the PG’s office was faced with more than 30 000 new cases in addition to the 62 618 that were already on the court roll.Of these, 22 279 were finalised, resulting in 8 839 convictions and 792 acquittals.More than 11 000 cases were withdrawn while in more than 1 000 cases the accused were let off the hook without having to defend themselves, because the State was unable to present a strong case for prosecution.In the High Court, 54 criminal cases were heard, of which only seven were finalised.Of the 318 criminal appeals received, 157 were finalised and 161 are still pending.The Caprivi treason trial was also draining limited resources, the Justice Minister said, having now cost the State N$7 million and the biggest single expense in the budget of the legal aid directorate.The Justice Minister was however pleased to tell the National Assembly that the available funds would allow for the decentralisation of legal-aid services and offices would be opened at Oshakati, Rundu, Otjiwarongo, Gobabis, Mariental and Keetmanshoop.However, she said, this directorate continued to be overwhelmed by the large number of requests for representation from those unable to afford private legal services.During the past year, 300 requests were received and at the time of the last review, 160 requests were still outstanding.Only 12 out of the 21 posts for lawyers to staff this division are currently filled.The Justice Minister also bemoaned the situation facing the division of legal drafting, warning that operations could soon grind to a halt.”Apart from the problem of non-funding [of] all vacant posts due to inadequate financial resources, this programme is reaching a situation where it might start to suffer serious operational problems due to the unavailability of funds for infrastructure such as computer equipment and library materials,” said Iivula-Ithana.The National Assembly is expected to discuss this budget vote today.Iivula-Ithana was upset by a request by Swapo Whip Ben Amadhila to “summarise” the last 20-odd pages of her speech, saying it was important that parliamentarians understood the constraints placed on her Ministry in the fair and speedy administration of justice.”I’m dealing with a huge, huge Ministry and sometimes we [MPs] behave as if we don’t know what’s going on.We need to educate ourselves as legislators,” said an irate Iivula-Ithana.The Justice Ministry is allocated N$211 million in this year’s State budget.Iivula-Ithana said in recent years the administration of the domestic violence and maintenance acts had placed an additional burden on the already small number of magistrates. Although Government will this year allocate more funds to the Justice Ministry for the appointment of 18 magistrates on a two-year temporary contract to reduce the backlog that has dogged the country’s lower courts for years, Iivula-Ithana warned that if a more permanent solution to boosting staff numbers was not found, the system would revert back to square one.”It is, however, important to note that this is only a temporary arrangement.If no further funds are allocated for the recruitment of more magistrates, this effort will only bear temporary fruit and at the end of that exercise, the backlog will start building again,” she said.During the 2005-06 financial year, the lower courts finalised more than 21 000 criminal cases, 12 485 civil cases, 628 labour cases and 932 cases in the children’s court.The High and Supreme Courts were not without their problems either, Iivula-Ithana said, noting the drastic increase in the number of appeals in civil, criminal and labour matters which had necessitated the appointment of acting judges on occasion.An insufficient budget, she said, would mean that such appointments would have to be limited and eventually result in backlogs in these two courts too.Prosecutors in the regions had no administrative personnel to assist them in their duties and it was becoming difficult to encourage them to remain in the civil service when private practice offered more attractive salary packages.One hundred and three prosecutors are employed in lower courts countrywide.The Prosecutor General’s office will receive a budget allocation of N$30 million.During the past financial year, the PG’s office was faced with more than 30 000 new cases in addition to the 62 618 that were already on the court roll.Of these, 22 279 were finalised, resulting in 8 839 convictions and 792 acquittals.More than 11 000 cases were withdrawn while in more than 1 000 cases the accused were let off the hook without having to defend themselves, because the State was unable to present a strong case for prosecution.In the High Court, 54 criminal cases were heard, of which only seven were finalised.Of the 318 criminal appeals received, 157 were finalised and 161 are still pending.The Caprivi treason trial was also draining limited resources, the Justice Minister said, having now cost the State N$7 million and the biggest single expense in the budget of the legal aid directorate.The Justice Minister was however pleased to tell the National Assembly that the available funds would allow for the decentralisation of legal-aid services and offices would be opened at Oshakati, Rundu, Otjiwarongo, Gobabis, Mariental and Keetmanshoop.However, she said, this directorate continued to be overwhelmed by the large number of requests for representation from those unable to afford private legal services.During the past year, 300 requests were received and at the time of the last review, 160 requests were still outstanding.Only 12 out of the 21 posts for lawyers to staff this division are currently filled.The Justice Minister also bemoaned the situation facing the division of legal drafting, warning that operations could soon grind to a halt.”Apart from the problem of non-funding [of] all vacant posts due to inadequate financial resources, this programme is reaching a situation where it might start to suffer serious operational problems due to the unavailability of funds for infrastructure such as computer equipment and library materials,” said Iivula-Ithana.The National Assembly is expected to discuss this budget vote today.