AN EASTERN CAPE partnership between the public sector and Business Against Crime is helping to combat crime around South Africa. Business Against Crime is a privately-funded initiative. The performance of the Port Elizabeth New Law Court, where Business Against Crime’s (BAC) Integrated Justice System Programme has just completed its pilot run, has so impressed the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Justice that the Port Elizabeth model has been selected for implementation in a national rollout programme. Johnny de Lange, who chairs the Portfolio Committee, concluded, after a tour of inspection, to the Port Elizabeth court, that the procedures tested at the court should be implemented at select sites nationally to improve the efficiency of courts through out the country. The reduction in the number of days for awaiting trial prisoners has already saved the taxpayer in the region of R10m over a 3-year period, for Port Elizabeth alone. The Integrated Justice System on which the PE court was based was a joint development between the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and Business Against Crime as part of the public private partnership. Initially scheduled for introduction at the ten largest court centres in the country, the new model will vastly speed the rate at which courts handle the backlog of cases and saving the government millions of rand in the process. By bringing together the principal role players in the criminal justice system including police, the Justice Department, Correctional Services and Social Development, the PE pilot has dramatically improved the overall performance of all aspects of the court process. Advocate Pieter du Rand, head of Court Administration of courts at the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, says among the many benefits of the new system will be that awaiting trail prisoners will spend much shorter periods in jail reducing overcrowding in prisons and saving the state millions in the process. It will also ensure swift and certain justice for criminals awaiting trial. Du Rand says Business Against Crime had played a pivotal role in driving the project as part of the public private partnership. “Their contribution was invaluable and ensured the successful completion of the projec. “Among the many benefits of the Integrated Justice System is that it will for once and for all put a stop to the theft of dockets and the corruption that has been plaguing the courts,” says Du Rand. Business Against Crime IJS programme director, Hardie Fourie, says the results attained so far have been highly satisfactory. “Justice must be seen to be done by all the people and to that end, it is imperative that all cases, including those of awaiting trail prisoners have to be brought to trial as quickly as possible. The fact that substantial savings accrue to the taxpayer is an added bonus,” he says.