Justice department staff to pocket R4.2bn in cost-of-living adjustment

The department of justice & constitutional development has allocated R4.2bn from its budget of R25.1bn for 2024/25 to “cost of employment” adjustments to address the cost of living for staff, its minister, Thembi Nkadimeng, says. 

Delivering the department’s budget vote speech in Cape Town on Wednesday, Nkadimeng said the R25.1bn budget would support critical operations across the department, including court services, state legal services, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and auxiliary and associated services. 

Of the budget, R628m is earmarked for implementing the crucial recommendations of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Zondo commission, “ensuring we continue to enhance our justice system’s integrity and effectiveness”. 

The National Treasury has said SA is on track to exit the FATF greylist by June 2025 as the country has addressed or “largely addressed” eight of the 22 action items in line with specified deadlines. This is after the FATF, which sets global standards for the combating of money-laundering and terrorism financing, found SA deficient and placed it on the greylist in February 2023.   

Nkadimeng said the department’s focus over the medium-term expenditure framework period centred on improving service delivery efficiencies though digital transformation and modernisation. 

“In the new financial year, the department received a baseline increase of R1.321bn on the compensation of employees to fund the carry-through costs for the cost-of-living adjustment,” the minister said. “This adjustment will relieve financial pressure on the department’s compensation of employees budget in the current financial year, as there was no additional budget allocation previously provided to fund the same.” 

Nkadimeng added a budget reduction of R1.586bn was implemented as part of National Treasury’s drive to manage state debt. 

Hamper justice

The budget cut was criticised by opposition parties who argued it would hamper the dispensation of justice in the sector. 

Former Western Cape judge president John Hlophe, who leads the uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) party in the National Assembly, said MK was “vehemently opposed” to the budget cuts.

“The first problem is lower courts are understaffed and working conditions deplorable. The budget cut can only make matters worse.” 

He said magistrates postponed 40 cases daily due to lack of capacity in the courts, and there were too few foreign language interpreters. This, he said, affected the waiting period “and there are people languishing in prison as a result of this”. 

ANC MP Xola Nqola recommended the budget vote be approved, while DA MP and former NPA prosecutor, Glynnis Breytenbach, said the amount of work needed to turn around the department was huge. The administration of justice was in disarray and court infrastructure is poor, she said. 

She bemoaned the “staggering” corruption at the Master’s Office. “Simply, nothing seems to happen at Master’s Office. The Master’s Office is corrupt to its core.”

The department needed to set targets that were realistic, achievable, and could be exceeded. Breytenbach said the department should use the budget to provide requisite services to people that depended on it daily. 

Permanent unit

In her speech Nkadimeng said the department would continue to redouble efforts in the fight against corruption.

“Thus, we have established a permanent prosecution-led unit within the NPA, the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption, with criminal investigative powers through newly enacted legislation to address complex corruption and state capture-related crimes.” 

IFP MP Albert Mncwango said access to justice should not be regarded as a gift or luxury and while the IFP “supports the budget”, he called for an urgent, effective strategy to turn the department around.

EFF MP and former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane said the NPA should be changed into a Chapter 9 institution to guard it against “interference”. She also called for those implicated in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal to be “charged and dealt with”. 

Terry Motau’s 148-page report, “VBS Mutual Bank — The Great Bank Heist”, blew the lid off the looting that characterised the bank, from which nearly R2bn was siphoned in less than five years. 

Tshifhiwa Matodzi, former VBS chair, who has admitted to his role in the looting and is expected to begin a 15-year sentence soon, also said money was paid to former National Treasury director-general Dondo Mogajane to turn a blind eye — an allegation he has denied.

mkentanel@businesslive.co.za