Court security at risk due to budget cuts

JUSTICE and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has said that budget cuts have severely limited the ability of her department to bolster security measures at courts.

- MAYIBONGWE MAQHINA

Responding to oral questions in the National Assembly this week, Kubayi said they have looked at augmenting security infrastructure in an attempt to deal with the challenge.

"The ICT equipment for searching (people), we augment it with physical security. Sometimes the report we get is that that's not sufficient," she said.

Kubayi was asked by DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach about the steps her department has taken to ensure that scanners and other security systems work effectively and are repaired and maintained properly.

There have been recent incidents where people have been shot outside or inside court buildings in the Western Cape. Kubayi said they were looking at courts that have high incidence rates to be prioritised by placing more security in addition to the police who man the courts.

"It's one of the areas that we continue to work on as we think that currently, the situation is not satisfactory at our courts," she said.