When Annie Manyike employer refused to pay her R12 000, she instituted a case against him at Alexandra Small Claims Court. After receiving a letter of demand from the court, the defendant paid Mrs Manyike. This is one of the many examples of people accessing free and speedy justice services through Small Claims Court.
An agreement between the Swiss government, through the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation and the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ&CD) will ensure that more South Africans, who have cases familiar to Mrs Manyike, access justice.
DOJ&CD Minister Jeff Radebe and the Swiss Ambassador Rudolf Barfuss, signed a cooperative agreement on 19 April that would see the Swiss government injecting R10 million in a project to revitalise Small Claims Courts in South Africa. The funding is part of a partnership that has been in place for the past four years. The project has to date received R4.2m in donor funding, this has translated into the establishment of 26 Small Claims Courts and the revival of 17 inactive courts. In addition 16 Advisory Boards were revived during the first phase of the project which ran from March 2007 to February 2011.
Now in the second phase, the project will ensure that more courts are established on an incremental basis. The department plans to establish 30 additional courts in the financial year 2011/12. This will increase the number of those currently available and operational nationally from 224 to 254.
Speaking at the signing ceremony in Johannesburg, Minister Radebe said "Today marks our continued commitment towards ensuring that justice prevails in every quarter of the South African society. This is very important as it helps to enhance social cohesion and encourage adherence to the principals of justice and fairness in all social dealings, irrespective of how small the issue might seem."
Previously disadvantaged areas will mostly benefit from this project. The Minister explained that the department would continue to ensure that rural areas have the same opportunities of accessing justice like urban areas.
"Significantly and in keeping with our objective of ensuring access to justice, most of these newly established courts will be in rural areas," he said.