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Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola
PHOTO: Jan Gerber, News24
- The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development “desperately needs a makeover,” says Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.
- Plans are underway to improve the department.
- Lamola said that the criminal justice system must improve respect for the courts and the rule of law.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola says the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development “desperately needs a makeover.”
On Friday, he provided the Justice and Correctional Services Portfolio Committee with a “political description” of the department.
This after the committee raised concerns last month about the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development’s declining performance, after the department briefed the committee on its performance in the fourth quarter for 2019/20 and its performance in the first quarter. quarter for 2020/21 last month.
The committee then resolved that it would consider requesting the assistance of the Public Service Commission to address the department’s poor performance and systematic challenges to improve the situation.
Among the concerns raised by the committee is that the department has a vacancy rate of 23.4% at the senior management level. The committee said the department could not complain about proposed budget cuts and then continue to miss targets and spend less on its budget. The department reported approximately R1.2 billion in irregular and underutilized expenses at R757 million.
There is no room for complacency
Lamola told the committee that he has heeded their call and there is no room for complacency in the department.
He said the department’s role is to make the criminal justice system accessible.
Lamola said:
It is critical to ensure that, to the extent possible, we have a criminal justice system that enhances respect for the courts and adherence to the rule of law. These are not check boxes, but real life problems.
“As a ministry, our assessment is that the administration needs to be significantly redesigned to meet the expectations of South Africans and we are currently spearheading this process.”
He said he hopes that the future director general of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development will give impetus to the department’s renewal.
He said assistant general managers had been appointed for the teacher’s office and corporate services.
“In our workforce of 15,000, there are thousands of people who are diligent, at the forefront of making our justice system more accessible.”
Rescue plan
“Honorable members, having had access to the performance of the department, I have asked the senior management of the department to conduct a root cause analysis of the problems that we see in the department. This is also to ensure that we develop a plan of rescue as recommended by this august [sic] committee, “Lamola said.
He said this rescue plan will address the concerns raised by the committee, the Auditor General, and his internal audit committee.
“It is absolutely critical that top management take responsibility and lead from the front lines to address the challenges.”
He said the following problems have been identified in the root cause analysis:
- Senior leadership instability, lack of capacity;
- Lack of proper performance management;
- Lack of decisive decision making;
- There is no defined organizational culture that leads to a culture of non-compliance; Y
- Lack of ethical tools.
He said the following actions need to be taken before the financial year ends:
- Realign the macrostructure;
- Implement corrective actions and consequence management; Y
- Assessment of the skill set of middle and senior management.
The committee welcomed Lamola’s commitment to change the department, but still raised several concerns.
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