The state attorney’s office loses seven of every 10 cases it takes to court‚ and this has considerable financial implications for the state‚ according to a Public Service Commission investigation’s report into the efficiency of the office.
The state attorney’s office litigates on behalf of government departments and state entities in matters such as unnatural deaths in police custody or in cases in which the government is sued for medical malpractice.
The report records that in 2014‚ Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann said of the state attorney: “The present condition of this office causes significant unnecessary expenditure of public funds that are wasted by cost orders granted against organs of state because of the poor quality of professional service provided by these officers of the court.”
Eventually‚ the judge said‚ “the very essence of the rule of law is endangered if regular litigants fail to observe the most basic principles that protect the independence and quality of justice dispensed by our courts“.
“It is high time that this malaise is addressed. The client’s fundamental right to legal representation was rendered nugatory if the attorney tasked with representing it is guilty of as grave a dereliction of duty as the state attorney is in this case.
“Legal representation must mean effective legal representation if that right is to be observed and respected in practice‚” the report quotes the judge as saying.
The report says that it is evident from the limited information that the rand value of legal costs in some departments is substantial.
For example‚ the Department of Health indicated that it had cost R20.4m to settle cases over two financial years‚ while the Department of International Relations and Co-operation had paid R928‚442.11 for briefs provided to counsel over three financial years.
A South African Police Service (SAPS) unit that handles litigation and administration had spent R5.9m for cases related to recovery of debt.
Read the full story in Business Day www.bdlive.co.za
Taxpayers’ millions lost to state attorney’s incompetency
The state attorney’s office litigates on behalf of government departments and state entities in matters such as unnatural deaths in police custody or in cases in which the government is sued for medical malpractice.
The report records that in 2014‚ Judge Eberhard Bertelsmann said of the state attorney: “The present condition of this office causes significant unnecessary expenditure of public funds that are wasted by cost orders granted against organs of state because of the poor quality of professional service provided by these officers of the court.”
Eventually‚ the judge said‚ “the very essence of the rule of law is endangered if regular litigants fail to observe the most basic principles that protect the independence and quality of justice dispensed by our courts“.
“It is high time that this malaise is addressed. The client’s fundamental right to legal representation was rendered nugatory if the attorney tasked with representing it is guilty of as grave a dereliction of duty as the state attorney is in this case.
“Legal representation must mean effective legal representation if that right is to be observed and respected in practice‚” the report quotes the judge as saying.
The report says that it is evident from the limited information that the rand value of legal costs in some departments is substantial.
For example‚ the Department of Health indicated that it had cost R20.4m to settle cases over two financial years‚ while the Department of International Relations and Co-operation had paid R928‚442.11 for briefs provided to counsel over three financial years.
A South African Police Service (SAPS) unit that handles litigation and administration had spent R5.9m for cases related to recovery of debt.
Read the full story in Business Day www.bdlive.co.za
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