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Media Briefing Statement by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, ahead of the Department’s 2025/26 Budget Vote Presentation in Parliament, 09 July 2025

Good day members of the media, colleagues, and fellow South Africans.

I would like to join the many South Africans in extending our heartfelt condolences to the Mabuza family, comrades, and friends especially ANC and the people of Mpumalanga.
Bhuti as affectionately was called by many of us was a leaders who was principled, excised discipline and in a soft voice firm. He spoke less but a word from him was firm, decisive and carried the necessary authority even in Cabinet. Lala Ngokuthula Mshengu

The purpose of today’s media briefing is to share the highlights of the Department’s 2025/26 Budget Vote, which the Deputy Minister and I will shortly be tabling before Parliament.
This engagement with you, the media, serves to provide context to our budget priorities and to ensure that the public is well-informed about the Department’s planned work in the year ahead.

Our Budget Vote is structured around nine key themes that reflect our strategic priorities and the Department’s constitutional mandate.

1. Access to Justice

Our work is guided by the principle that “All shall be equal before the law.”
As we will outline in greater detail during the tabling of the Budget Vote, a key focus of our efforts is on expanding access to justice, particularly for the poor and vulnerable, by upgrading our courts, the Masters’ Offices, and the Office of the State Attorney.

This work is critical as we continue the transition towards a fully independent and unified judiciary.

Our priorities include improving the accessibility of our facilities for persons with disabilities, and investing in digital systems, developed in collaboration with SARS and the Department of Home Affairs, to improve service efficiency and responsiveness within the Masters’ Offices.
Having experienced the serious challenges related to our ICT infrastructure, we welcome Minister Malatsi’s proposed approach to allow, where necessary and justifiable, direct procurement from the market.

This will enable us to secure efficient and effective ICT services, and help avoid the frequent situation where offices must explain being offline, instead of simply issuing the letter of authority needed by the public.

2. Turnaround of the Masters Office and State Attorney

The implementation of the turnaround strategies of Masters Office and the Office of the State Attorney through system modernisation, strategic partnerships with the private sector, enhanced staff capacitation and accountability is critical to rebuild confidence to those we serve.

The Management of state litigation is critical to ensure the State does not continue to spend a lot of money on unnecessarily litigation or default judgments.

3. Fight against Gender-Based Violence and Femicide

We continue with our efforts to combat Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF).
We are adopting a victim-centred approach aimed at reducing secondary victimisation.
This includes expanding the footprint of Sexual Offences Courts and Thuthuzela Care Centres, ensuring the swift processing of protection orders, and strengthening the National Register for Sexual Offenders and reviewing legislation to enable the public release of the Sexual offenders’ register.

4. Fighting fraud and corruption

Another key focus area is our fight against fraud and corruption. We will highlight significant recoveries amounting to billions by the SIU and the NPA’s Asset Forfeiture Unit, demonstrating the impact of our ongoing anti-corruption efforts. We will provide and update on the operationalisation of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) with enhanced digital evidence capabilities.

While we are aware of recent developments involving IDAC, we take guidance from the President and will allow space for due process. Today, we focus on the progress being made.
Our efforts also include the establishment of a dedicated Lifestyle Audit Unit, improved whistle-blower protections, and legislative reforms to bolster the country’s anti-corruption framework.
In addition, we will share the strides we are making on the global front through our participation in international anti-corruption platforms.

5. Transformation of the Legal Sector

The transformation of this sector remains non-negotiable. Our ongoing efforts and progress will first be in defending the sector code litigation challenge brought by Norton rose.
We will be advancing transformation by ensuring that the briefing patterns by the state attorneys as well change.

6. Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and Apartheid-Era Justice

The implementation of Parliament approved report on Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), remains critical and necessary as part of healing our nation.
We will give progress report on this work. We further welcome the appointment of the Commission of Inquiry led by retired Justice Sisi Khampepe and we will do our outmost best to support its work.

7. Review of Colonial and Apartheid-Era Legislation

As part of our commitment to building a more inclusive and just legal framework—particularly for women, children, and persons with disabilities—we will, this year, undertake a review of colonial and apartheid-era legislation. This process aims to align outdated laws with the values and principles of the 1996 Constitution.

8. Building a Capable State and Legal Skills Development

Strengthening human capital in the legal sector remains critical. This includes specialised training in prosecutions, cybercrime, legal interpretation, and gender-based violence through our reimagined Bridget Mabandla Justice College.

9. Budget Allocation

Lastly, the Department’s allocation stands at R25 billion, which is broken as follows. The budget includes:

Despite these constraints, we remain committed to using public funds effectively and delivering impact-driven services.

In conclusion, this budget reflects our unwavering commitment to restorative justice, modernisation, and social redress.