"Justice delayed, is justice denied"

The IFP today expressed its dismay at the inadequate allocation of funds to Justice.

Mr JH Van Der Merwe, speaking in the Constitutional Development and Justice Budget Vote debate in Parliament also drew attention to the huge backlog in finalizing court cases.

Van Der Merwe said: "justice delayed, is justice denied" and that "one of the very unfortunate results of not finalizing court cases, is that thousands of awaiting trial prisoners aggravate the huge crisis of overcrowding in our prisons."

Van Der Merwe also voiced the concern of the IFP that the current situation between the Public Protector and the National Director of Public Prosecutions may reflect negatively on the two institutions themselves. Van Der Merwe also called upon the Asset Forfeiture Unit, after being criticized for poor performance, to operate more carefully and with greater finesse.

Turning to the review of laws on the Statute book, Van Der Merwe said that the IFP supports the suggestion of a continuous revision of laws and said that the wording of new laws should be easier for the citizenry to understand and less "alien and arcane."

Emphasising the IFP's longstanding championing of devolved decision-making, Van Der Merwe said that the IFP "enthusiastically support[ed] moves to create High Courts in each of our nine Provinces" and that the IFP "believes that Justice should also become a provincial competency with an MEC for Justice in each province."