1. Presentation to Portfolio Committee on Justice And Constitutional Development on the Implementation of the Child Justice Act
2/26/10

2. Legal Representation in terms of Child Justice Act22
Legal Representation in terms of Child Justice Act
Legal Representation at State Expense (Section 82)
Where a child appears before a Child Justice Court and he/she is not legally represented, then Legal Aid SA must evaluate whether to provide legal representation
No Plea may be taken until a child has been afforded a chance to obtain a legal representative
Waive of Legal Representation (Section 83)
No child may waive his/her right to legal representation
Where a child declines to appoint or to give instructions, Legal Aid SA must appoint a legal representative to assist the court

3. Legal Representation in terms of Child Justice Act
Legal Representation at Preliminary Inquiry (Section 81)
The Act does not preclude a child from being represented by a legal representative at a preliminary inquiry
Postponement of Preliminary Inquiry (Section 48)
Where a preliminary Inquiry is postponed to note a confession/admission or hold an identity parade/pointing-out the magistrate must inform the child to have and adult/guardian/legal representative during the proceedings

4. Provision of Legal Aid Services
All Courts Designated as Child Justice Courts
Legal Aid SA provides legal services by means of salaried practitioners and private practitioners briefed on Judicare
Currently each criminal court is covered either by Legal Aid SA salaried practitioners (Allocated to a specific court/courts) or by judicare practitioners
The current court coverage model will continue to ensure coverage of any child justice courts and no additional resources will be made available to cover the Child Justice Courts

5. Provision of Legal Aid Services
One Stop Child Justice Centres
13 One Stop Child Justice Centers were initially planned
There is currently no clarity on the number of One Stop Child Justice Centres that are going to be rolled out and the location/jurisdiction of such centres
Only two currently operational v.i.z Bloemfontein and Port Elizabeth
Legal Aid SA deploys dedicated capacity to the two one stop Justice Centres
Dedicated capacity is envisaged for any further One Stop Justice Centres but specific funding for additional capacity will be required

6. Provision of Legal Aid Services
Dedicated Child Justice Courts implemented by Chief Magistrates
Currently there are courts dedicated to dealing with children in conflict with the law
Chief Magistrates may designate dedicated Child Justice Courts but the number of dedicated courts that may be implemented is unknown
Legal Aid SA provides admitted attorneys at the courts currently dedicated to children in conflict with the law
It is envisaged that all new dedicated Child Justice Courts will be serviced by admitted legal practitioners
Additional funding will be required to convert the Candidate Attorney posts to Admitted Practitioner posts at District Courts so designated

7. Budget for implementation of Child Justice Act
Legal Aid SA has not received an allocation in the MTEF for the implementation of the Child Justice Act
The DOJ has indicated that it has R 30 Million for the implementation of legislation for the 2010/2011 financial year that is allocated to the Child Justice Act
The DOJ has recommended that Legal Aid SA be allocated R 10 Million from this budget but no official confirmation has been received nor has any transfer been effected
The above Budget allocation is not recurring and has not been added to the MTEF baseline. This only permits a limited and unsustainable response to the implementation of the Child Justice Act

8. Training of Legal Practitioners88
Training of Legal Practitioners
Training material has been developed but needs to include the gazetted regulations, the NDPP Directives and SAPS National Instructions
Legal Aid SA will have to train all it’s legal practitioners as all courts are designated as Child Justice Courts
This will have to be done in phases so as to not disrupt the normal functioning of the courts
Additional budget is required to implement the training for all Legal Aid SA legal practitioners