The Democratic Alliance (DA) has called on the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to move with greater urgency in addressing the growing court backlog resulting from the closure of the Galeshewe Magistrates’ Court building in Kimberley, in July 2023.
The building was shut down by the Department of Labour due to structural defects posing a safety risk to staff and the public. In the interim, court services were provided at Galeshewe Police Station before being moved to the Kimberley Magistrates’ Court from 15 January 2024.
During a committee meeting yesterday, the department indicated that a team from Public Works will be at the facility to complete the final assessment of the structural defects in April, after which work will also commence.
While I was given the assurance that the Galeshewe Magistrates’ Court will be reopened in the coming financial year, I remain concerned that this matter has not been adequately prioritized since the facility’s closure twenty months ago.
The current situation is untenable, as the heightened burden on the Kimberley Magistrates’ Court has created a bottleneck and is ultimately delaying justice and postponing the important task of getting criminals behind bars. The situation also carries a cost-factor for the Galeshewe community, who must spend more money on taxifares to travel into the city centre, to attend court proceedings.
The DA will continue to pose questions in the committee and request a breakdown of the structural defects, a detailed plan of how they will be addressed, a clear costing plan and the available, allocated budget.
The Galeshewe Magistrates’ Court has a critical role to play in resolving disputes, upholding the rule of law, safeguarding communities and ensuring a just society, and we should not let a lack of prioritization and poor planning get in the way of it fulfilling its function.