15th annual family law - millerdutoitcloeteinc.co.za decrease in the backlog of maintenance cases;...

15th Annual Family Law

Conference hosted by Miller

Du Toit Inc.

15 March 2012

“Operation Isondlo”

A Turn Around Strategy for

Maintenance Services

6 March 2012

Presented by Adv H Mohamed

Doj&cd

Contents

1. Introduction / History

2. Some Practical & Systems Challenges

3. Intervention / Initiatives undertaken

4. Operation Isondlo 2011 & Outcomes: A Case

Study of a successful intervention

5. Wayforward

1. Introduction / History• In January 2011, the Department of Justice &

Constitutional Development (Doj&cd) developed a

Turn-Around Strategy for Maintenance Services as

a key priority area for improvement during the 2011-

2012 Financial Year

• Key focus is to improve maintenance services by

tracing Untraced Maintenance Beneficiaries and

ensuring that Alleged Maintenance Defaulters are

brought to book through Operation Isondlo

• Operation Isondlo was introduced during 2005 by

the then Minister of Justice & Constitutional

Development in order to give effect to this

Introduction / History (continued)

• Main aim of Operation Isondlo is to improve the

maintenance system to assist parents who struggle

to obtain maintenance for their children

• Strategic objectives of Operation Isondlo:

1. A decrease in the backlog of maintenance cases;

2. Enforcement of the provisions of the Maintenance Act

99 of 1998, especially the civil remedies;

3. Capacity building at the courts;

4. Public education and awareness campaigns

• Private maintenance system is based on the

parents’ legal duty of support of their children

Introduction / History (continued)

• Despite the introduction of the Maintenance Act and

the innovative amendments (such as the

appointment of maintenance investigators;

maintenance officers; granting of orders by default;

emoluments attachment orders; etc.), women

continue to struggle to access maintenance

• Some practical and systemic challenges experienced include, inter alia:

Inherent issues, such as defaulters evading and defying court

orders with relative impunity (Bannatyne vs Bannatyne CCT

18/02);

Ineffective systems;

Inadequately trained court personnel;

Insufficient facilities and resources;

Long queues;

The gathering of supporting documents; etc

2. Some practical & Systemic

challenges:

Some Practical & Systemic challenges

(continued)

• South African law places a duty on both parents to

care for their children depending on their ability, but

this responsibility usually rests on the single parent

to financially bear the full parental responsibility on

their own

• Many households in South Africa are headed by

single parents and the majority of these households

are headed by women

Increase in divorces

Children born outside of marriage

• A functioning and effective maintenance system is

critical not only for the children, but for the substantive

equality of women in South Africa

• Also critical in the alleviation of poverty; reduction of

children being utilised in criminal activities and the

decrease of children reliant on state grants

• Doj&cd functions as a national competency and is

responsible for the administration of the courts and

constitutional development

• Doj&cd is responsible for the effective implementation of

the Maintenance Act through the enforcement of the

rights contained therein

Some Practical & Systemic challenges

(continued)

• Since then, number of other initiatives that were put in

place include:

The appointment of maintenance investigators and maintenance

officers

The provision of intensive training for maintenance staff;

Providing tools for the maintenance investigators to enable them to

trace defaulters and untraced beneficiaries;

Introducing maintenance services on a Saturday;

Introducing mediation services in maintenance matters;

Addressing delays in the service of maintenance process documents;

Enforcing the attachment of pension money from defaulters for the

benefit of children;

Regular training of maintenance staff;

The creation of additional posts in the maintenance section;

3. Interventions / Initiatives

undertaken:

Interventions / Initiatives undertaken

(continued)

• Other initiatives continued:

JDAS (Justice Deposit Accounting System allows for EFT transfers to

be made to maintenance beneficiaries);

Providing electronic fund transfer facilities at the court to allow for

maintenance money to be electronically paid into the bank accounts

of maintenance beneficiaries;

Paternity Tests (statutory obligation placed on the Department to pay

for paternity tests where it has been determined by a court of law that

the parent(s) are unable to pay for these tests);

Trans-Union Information Trust Corporation System (ITC);

Various public education and outreach programmes held throughout

South Africa;

Facilitating the development of the Magistrates’ Guidelines for the

Implementation of Maintenance; etc.

• Strategic objectives of Operation Isondlo:

1. A decrease in the backlog of maintenance cases;

2. Enforcement of the provisions of the Maintenance Act

99 of 1998, especially the civil remedies;

3. Capacity building at the courts;

4. Public education and awareness campaigns

4. OPERATION ISONDLO 2011 &

Outcomes: A Case Study of a

Successful Intervention

• Operation Isondlo is about service delivery as is

shown in its strategic objectives outlined above

• The Operation and its success have resulted in the

poor, disadvantaged and vulnerable women and

children having been afforded greater access to

justice which had a positive impact on their lives

Operation Isondlo 2011 (continued)

• Doj&cd and the JCPS cluster departments collaborated with

ngo’s, legal fraternity and communities to launch it’s

Women’s Month programme during August 2011

• Theme: Maintenance and Access to Justice Services

• Women’s Month was divided into 3 programmes:

Programme 1: Maintenance Imbizo’s (9 to 31 August 2011);

Programme 2: Public Education Workshops (9 to 31 August

2011); and

Programme 3: Access to Justice Week 2011 & Free Legal

Advice (22 to 26 August 2011).

• National Women’s Month (August 2011): The Western Cape

Region hosted seven (7) imbizo’s, ten (10) public education

workshops and also hosted free legal advice sessions to the

public. Approximately 3 000 people attended.



• The Women’s Month Programme objectives were to educate

the communities

how to enforce their rights,

contributing to a culture of human rights and legal literacy,

building and improving partnerships between the community and

government.

• A concerted effort went into hosting events in rural areas to

accommodate and educate such communities

• The Master of the High Court and the Office of the Family

Advocate in the Region played an active role during all the

various events that was hosted over 5 weeks.


• The communities who attended these events all shared the

same concern relating to maintenance services, namely: “the

perception that defaulters are reneging on their responsibility

to pay maintenance and care for their children and the

Doj&cd is not intervening decisively in this regard.”

• In response to the concerns raised by the communities,

Operation Isondlo commenced on 15 September 2011 with

identified targets and outcomes to be achieved by 10

December 2011.

• The target set by the JCPS Cluster departments were to

execute 890 warrants of arrests against alleged

maintenance defaulters that could not be traced and to trace

and pay out 157 untraced maintenance beneficiaries.


• The objectives set for this period for Operation Isondlo

was to:

Locate untraced maintenance beneficiaries;

Trace and Arrest alleged maintenance defaulters for

whom warrants of arrest were issued;

Create awareness and educate communities, especially

women, on issues relating to domestic violence, the

victim’s charter and maintenance services

Project Plan

• We established an Interdepartmental Project Management Team at Provincial Level

• We defined an “Untraced Alleged Maintenance Defaulter” and an “Untraced Maintenance Beneficiary” in terms of this project

• Identified 26 Magistrates’ Courts with the highest volumetric of maintenance matters;

• Produced a name list of the Untraced Alleged Maintenance Defaulters and Beneficiaries

• Implemented an Operation Plan through a Doj&cd circular (Circular 9/2011) issued to all maintenance staff in the Region and a SAPS Provincial Instruction (3/1/5/1/343(5) over 31/7/2/1 dated 2011-09-12



Interdepartmental Provincial Management Task

Team

• It was necessary to establish an interdepartmental Provincial

Management Task Team. The Provincial Management Task

Team was chaired by the Department of Justice and

Constitutional Development.

• The task team comprised of

Doj&cd Officials (Area Court Managers, Court Managers, R/O)

NPA;

SAPS;

DCS;

Home Affairs; and

Community Safety Representatives


Definitions

• Untraced Maintenance Beneficiary is defined as:

“a person for whom maintenance money is due and deposited in

the trust account at court, but such persons could not be traced

after diligent searches and the money due to them remained

unclaimed for a period of 6 months or longer.”

• Untraced Alleged Maintenance Defaulter is defined as:

“a person who has allegedly not complied with a maintenance

order and for whom a warrant of arrest was issued and returned to

the court by SAPS as untraceable.”


Name lists

• The name lists of the untraced alleged maintenance defaulters and beneficiaries were

• Information contained on the name lists were verified and are accurate (through the database of DCS, Home Affairs and Master’s Office)

• The certified copies of the warrants of arrests in respect of each untraced alleged maintenance defaulter was obtained from the courts

• Name lists were handed over to SAPS and distributed to the courts

Posted up on the Court and SAPS notice boards:

• 157 untraced maintenance beneficiaries (R177 000)

• 890 untraced alleged maintenance defaulters (R9, 7 mil)


Unique features of Operation Isondlo 2011

1. SAPS conducted targeted search operations to execute the 890 warrants of arrest for the allleged maintenance defaulters(resulted in defaulters from as far afield as Limpopo and Botswana appearing in the Western Cape courts);

2. Maintenance Investigators (from Doj&cd) conducted targeted search operations every Friday throughout this period to trace the 157 untraced maintenance beneficiaries;

3. Introduction of the Warrant Liaison Persons (Maintenance Clerks);

4. Dedicated SAPS Co-ordinators at Cluster and Station level;

5. Weekly meetings held by the Interdepartmental Provincial Management Task Team to monitor and evaluate progress of the Operation and to ensure compliance of the process by all departments involved;

6. Posted up the various names lists on the notice boards of SAPS stations and the Courts.


Outcomes: Defaulters

• 642 warrants of arrest (of the 890 warrants) were

successfully executed against alleged maintenance defaulters;

533 alleged defaulters were released on warning

34 alleged defaulters released on bail (highest bail granted R2000.00)

11 alleged defaulters were denied bail

41 matters withdrawn by court (10 complaints withdrawn by the

complainant)

3 alleged defaulters had their matters converted into enquiries

27 matters finalized

2 women in the Top 50 were arrested


86%

5%

2% 6%

1%

Arrested Defaulters

Warning Bail No Bail Withdrawn Enquiries


Outcomes: Beneficiaries

• 138 maintenance beneficiaries (of the 157 untraced

beneficiaries) were traced and paid out an amount of

R144 000:

84 traced by MI’s (R93 299-39 paid out)

29 traced through court officials (R37 480-00 paid out)

10 traced through media (R8 340-00 paid out)

6 deceased (4 estates finalized and paid out a total of R5 100-00)

9 maintenance beneficiaries that were traced by the MI’s must still

attend at court to collect their money (R8 390-00)

Operation Isondlo (continued):

Search Operations for Maintenance Beneficiaries:

• Thanks to the valiant effort of the Maintenance Investigators

and other court staff 88% of the untraced maintenance

beneficiaries were traced and paid out maintenance money

that was held in trust.

On 18 October 2011 the Deputy Minister of Justice & Constitutional Development

handed over a cheque of R10 500.00 to Ms Sandra De Klerk, maintenance

beneficiary who did not receive any maintenance for her foster child for a period of

longer than 1 year

An untraced maintenance beneficiary collects her maintenance money at Bhorat

Centre, Athlone from Ms N Payi (Office Manager) – 29 September 2011

Search Operations: Cloetesville

On 18 October 2011 Cloetesville SAPS executed maintenance

warrants

• 5 warrants were executed

• 3 were arrested

• Other 2 reported to Cloetesville SAPS later the evening

• All 5 appeared in Stellenbosch Magistrates’ Office

SEARCH OPERATION, MITCHELL’S PLAIN SAPS :

On 23 November 2011 Mitchells’ Plain SAPS executed

maintenance warrants

• Execution of warrants transpired from 23h00 till 07h00

• 15 warrants were executed

• 7 were arrested and appeared in Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates’

Court

Deputy Minister, A Nel, addressing the 590 police officials and 18 DCS officials that

participated in the Search Operation on 23.11.2011

SAPS officials arresting alleged defaulters so that they could appear before the

Mitchell’s Plain Magistrates’ Court the next day (24.11.2011).

5. Wayforward:• The Provincial Task Team continue to meet to monitor and

oversee maintenance matters in the Region;

• Incorporating suspended warrants into future initiatives of this

nature;

• Continue these initiatives once every two quarters;

• Name and phone number of the complainant must be forwarded to

SAPS along with the warrant of arrest (so complainant can be

contacted for additional information on the whereabouts of the

alleged defaulter);

• Purify the list of defaulters names with those persons detained by

DCS; and

• Inter-stakeholder joint training sessions be held on maintenance

issues.

• Proposals on amendments to the Maintenance Act has been

made to the South African Law Reform Commission

Thank you!

15th annual family law - millerdutoitcloeteinc.co.za decrease in the backlog of maintenance cases;...

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