New court buildings in Booysens and Plettenberg Bay will ease roll congestion

Justice minister Michael Masutha on Friday proclaimed two new courts - which cost R550m to build - as part of his department's effort to broaden access to justice.

The magistrates' courts are in Booysens in Gauteng and Plettenberg Bay in the Western Cape.

The department said the Booysens court would make it more convenient for local communities to access judicial services.

The department said that until now, communities were serviced by the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court in the Johannesburg CBD, which required communities having to travel up to 13km for help.

The new court would also alleviate pressure on the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court.

The facility was built at a cost of just over R242m - and it reinstates the Booysens Branch Court, which was moved to the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court due to inadequate facilities and increased matters on the court roll.

The department said the court would render a range of family law services, such as  maintenance and domestic violence matters, civil law services, and small claims court  and criminal law services, including the services of two regional courts.

The department said before the new Plettenberg Bay Magistrate's Court was built, court services for communities in the town were rendered from the Knysna Magistrate's Court, which was 30km away with limited public transport available.

"Over the past 20 years, a periodical court has serviced Plettenberg Bay twice a week at the municipal building premises.

The new R314m court  is at New Horizons, 3km from the CBD.

The department said the Plettenberg Bay court would incrementally introduce family court services, civil cases, a sexual offences court, regional courts and district courts.

The department also announced that in an effort to better accommodate the court roll of the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Johannesburg, it had made arrangements for the court to operate at the Palm Ridge Magistrate's Court.

"The recently appointed Special Investigating Unit (SIU) Tribunal will also be operational from the Specialised Crimes Court.

"The tribunal will expedite the finalisation of matters the SIU refers for civil litigation following the conclusion of its investigations," the department said.