Cape Town - When lights go out, 417 courts across the country are rendered dysfunctional.
Only 139 courts are able to continue functioning during load shedding because they have alternative energy sources such as generators.
Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola now wants Eskom to exempt the courts from load shedding as hundreds of courtrooms are rendered dysfunctional when there are power cuts.
Lamola said he has made the request to Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Thembi Nkadimeng and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan.
“I have written to the minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs, as well as the minister of public enterprises requesting that Department of Justice and Constitutional Development service points be red-flagged and not to put the power off during the times in which the courts and other service delivery points need to function,” he said.
He disclosed the move when he responded to parliamentary questions from EFF MP Laetitia Arries and DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach.
Lamola’s response showed that KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of courts without generators at 83, followed by the Free State with 79 and Eastern Cape with 65.
The Western Cape has 45 courts that don’t have generators, Mpumalanga 41, Limpopo 36, North West 27, Northern Cape 22 and Gauteng 19.
Lamola said his department was working hard to minimise the impact of load shedding on the functioning of the courts and other service delivery points.
“To ensure that disruptions to court activities resulting from load shedding are kept to a minimum, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has registered a project to install 80 generators with the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI), at various service points.
The project is at different phases of implementation in the provinces,” he said.
Lamola also said other capital, upgrading and refurbishment projects registered with the DPWI included the provision of generators or alternative power supply to ensure that service points were always functional.
“The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has also embarked on a pilot programme to install inverters/ solar power to the service points through the new minor works delegation received from DPWI in October 2022.”
Courts with generators would now benefit from the transversal contract for the provision of diesel so that they could operate without disruptions.
“DPWI has advised that they are engaging a term contractor for maintenance of the existing generators. Emergency lights have been procured for cells and all dark areas in the courthouses.”
Meanwhile, the Office of the Chief Justice was working closely with the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the DPWI to procure generators for all superior courts. Several superior courts were provided with the generators to mitigate the risks of power failures and/or load shedding.
Currently eight are without generators.
These include the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg, Labour and Labour Appeal Court in Durban, Gauteng High Court, Palace of Justice in Pretoria, the Mpumalanga High Court in Middelburg, Limpopo High Court in Thohoyandou, Western Cape High Court, the Labour and Labour Appeal Court in Cape Town and the Eastern Cape High Court in Bisho.
“The processes to procure generators for these superior courts have already commenced,” he said.
Cape Times