Courts saddled with massive case backlogs

60 000 more as pandemic takes its toll

THE Covid-19 pandemic left the regional and district courts saddled with a more than 60 000-case backlog at the end of June as the courts handled a minimum number of trials.

The number of cases added to the massive backlogs totalling nearly 200 000 from the past financial year that ended in March when the lockdown kicked in.

Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola revealed this in written parliamentary replies to two sets of questions from DA MP Werner Horn.

Horn had asked about the number of cases that were on the criminal court backlog roll on June 26 in both district and regional courts.

He had also enquired about the backlog in both courts on March 25 and May 25.

Backlogs in the district court are cases that have been on the roll for more than six months or more while in the regional court they will have been on the roll for nine months or more.

Lamola said that during the lockdown levels 3, 4 and 5 courts dealt with a minimal number of trials.

“Most cases were postponed in order to limit the number of people going to courts and thereby risking the spread of the virus. Such postponements led to further increases in the already existing criminal case backlogs,” he said.

Lamola also said there were 62 161 backlogs in cases in both lower courts comprising 39 766 cases in the district courts and 22 395 in the regional courts countrywide as at June 26.

Western Cape led the pack with 14 645 cases followed by Gauteng with 12 890.

The minister said there were continual engagements between the department and regional court presidents as well as chief magistrates to develop mechanisms to address the escalating backlogs.

“The engagement has led to the establishment of the integrated case-backlog plan through which cases are being arranged for trial in terms of their priority.”

Lamola said it was, however, difficult to effectively implement the plan due to the spikes in Covid-19 infections, which in turn led to constant closure of courts.

“The implementation of the plan will become more effective once the country has reached its peak and subsequent decline in the infection number,” he said.

The minister said at the end of March, a total of 194 225 cases were carried forward to the financial year which started in April.

“In addition to the cases carried forward, a total of 70 667 cases were enrolled during in April and May, the majority of which were postponed to a date after the lockdown period.”

Lamola noted that the disruption in the optimal use of courts resulted in an increase in the number of outstanding cases in the lower courts.

“At the end of May, compared to the outstanding roll and backlog cases at the end of March, the outstanding case loads in regional courts increased by 1% and in district courts by 18%.”

He said a similar increase was noted in the backlog of cases which increased by 14% in the regional courts and in the district courts by 63%.