Criminal Justice Strengthening Programme (CJSP) Projects

[Last Updated : 29 April 2010]

Project Close-Out - 2009

The CJSP was handed over to USAID, mid-2009, on completion.

The Projects of the CJSP in 2009 prior to handover:

The parties involved in the CJSP agreed at the end of 2008 to extend the contract of BACSA until mid-2009 to allow the organisation to complete projects related to 3 areas of work. These areas were the following:

• The Child Justice Bill;
• Sexual Offences;
• Support to Community Courts, and
• Re Aga Boswa.

1. The Child Justice Bill Area of Focus

South Africa is a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child. These international and regional instruments require state parties to develop separate laws and procedures for children in the Criminal Justice System.

The current legislative framework addressing children in the Criminal Justice System is fragmented across four different statutes. As well, 3 separate Departments are responsible for the management of processes relating to children and children in conflict with the law. There is currently no single transversal co-ordinating mechanism across these Departments to ensure that service delivery as it pertains to children is cohesive and is applied consistently

The Child Justice Bill addresses fragmentation and shifts the paradigm for dealing with children in conflict with the law through a restorative and therapeutic approach, rather than an adversarial one.

The CJSP was approached by the Vulnerable Groups Chief Directorate to assist with the adaptation of existing training manuals to account for changes in relation to the Bill.

Two developed training manuals are being used for the training of presiding officers (i.e., magistrates) and for administrators responsible for the implementation, administration and management of the legislative requirements pertaining to the Bill.

Prior to project closure, the training manuals will be handed over to the Justice College for further training, conducted on a sustainable basis.

2. Sexual Offences

The overall objective of the project is to enhance the effective implementation of the Sexual Offences Amendment Act. In alignment with the Amended Act, the project further aims to transform service delivery within the Sexual Offences Courts by equipping court personnel and officers with the requisite skills and knowledge to perform their duties.

Training materials for training sessions on Criminal Law and Sexual Offences matters have been developed.

3. Re Aga Boswa (RAB)

Re Aga Boswa (RAB) as a decentralised court model was introduced in 1997 and was successfully implemented in KwaZulu-Natal. However, the organisational redesign of the Department Of Justice and Constitutional Developent (DOJ and CD) delayed the roll-out of the decentralised model to other provinces.

Once, delegations for newly appointed court managers are finalised, activities under the RAB include the following:

• Aligning codes and process maps with the newly appointed managers;
• Training delegates on their delegations of authority, codes and process maps;
• Evaluating the model; and
• Curriculum development.

The existing unit standards have been reviewed by the project team to align these to identified training needs. SASSETA accreditation is being processed for the developed curriculum.

4. Support to Community Courts

The CJSP continues its support to 6 identified Community Courts. A review of the policy and legislative is being conducted.