Chapter nine institutions, including the office of the public protector, are suffering "resource constraints", according to justice deputy minister John Jeffery.
Earlier this month, public protector Thuli Madonsela also highlighted the fact that she had insufficient manpower and financial resources to fully conduct investigations.
"[These institutions] do have resource constraints, I must concede," said Jeffery at a media briefing after the Department of Justice and Correctional Services' budget vote in parliament yesterday.
The department funds chapter nine institutions like the South African Human Rights Commission and the auditor-general's office that promote constitutional democracy.
Madonsela's office was asked to investigate 41286 cases in the previous financial year ending on March 31, but had only 142 investigators at its disposal.
Its budget for the 2014/15 financial year is R218-million, up from R199-million. But the office says it needs R300-million.
Madonsela said the extra money was needed for investigation capacity, stating that currently an investigator has to complete at least one case a day for the workload to be handled.
Minister Michael Masutha said his department would get R17.9-billion for the 2014/15 financial year.
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