IFP MEDIA STATEMENT BY: 
MR KOOS VAN DER MERWE  MP 
IFP SPOKESPERSON ON JUSTICE

19th June 2008

The Inkatha Freedom Party has noted with concern reports that hundreds of unionised Legal Aid Board lawyers and administrative staff are planning a go-slow, due to a pay dispute with the Department of Justice. 

Furthermore, we have received information that some lawyers from the National Prosecuting Authority, who are not allowed to strike because they are classified as an essential service, are also planning a go-slow, possibly next week. 

The Occupation Specific Dispensation (OSD) agreement for the Legal Aid Board workers and NPA was reached some four months ago, but the matter hasn't been finalised yet, nor has the agreement been implemented. Legal Aid Board and NPA lawyers now have no other choice, but to take matters in their own hands. 

I raised this very issue during my Justice Budget Vote speech, but I received no reply from the Minister of Justice or the Deputy Minister of Justice. I followed this up with a letter to the Deputy Minister of Justice, but I am still waiting for an answer on why the Minster is dragging her feet with the implementation of the OSD. 

The Department of Justice can ill afford another crisis and the IFP therefore calls on the Minister of Justice to pay urgent attention to this issue, before our legal system, which is already crippled by massive case backlogs, grinds to a halt.