Justice Minister Jeff Radebe has said his department will get the Randburg Magistrate’s Court fixed after its roof caved in, but what about the other courts around the country?
The roof that collapsed in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court in November last year fell down because the contractor had not followed the architect’s specifications or design and now Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Jeff Radebe says that these repairs will be prioritised.
He claims that he has instructed the contractor responsible for the building to be on site by Friday this week and to carry out the repairs immediately. Radebe says that the court will be back to normal within the next three to four months.
He also assured staff that work at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court that their safety was of paramount importance and would not be comprised. He says that an independent consulting engineer has assessed the building along with inspectors from the Department of Labour.
After the assessment, the building was declared structurally sound, as not other structural defects had been found.
Radebe did not comment on the state of other public courts around the country. In Johannesburg, angry advocates, attorneys and judges have repeatedly complained about conditions in the South Gauteng High Court stating that the building is in serious need of repairs, upgrading and refurbishing.
The Justice Ministry has admitted that it is aware of problems at the court and its spokesman, Tlali Tlali said that the ministry is working within major budget cuts but has dedicated itself to improving conditions in the court by 2012.
Apparently about R333-million has been set aside for this, which is a major amount of money for routine maintenance and sounds more like the budget needed for a complete makeover of the court.
In the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court there have been similar complaints and this court had to be closed last year after a fire broke out, causing part of the roof to collapse and resulting in damage estimated at about R30-million.
Faulty electrics were thought to have caused this fire.
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