How the Maintenance teams partnered up with different stakeholders to achieve
a 75% case finalisation rate.
South Africa’s Maintenance Court is one of the busiest courts in the country, with an average of half the children in the country living in single-parent homes. As part of the End GBVF 100-Day Challenge, one of the tasks that were of utmost importance was setting specific goals to ensure clarity, direction and consistency with processing maintenance cases for child support.
The result: Collectively among all the participating courts, the maintenance case finalisation rate was 75%.
How did the Maintenance teams accomplish this? Let’s dive further into the teams’ innovations and obstacles.
Relying on technology as a trusted alternative to face-to-face
Maintenance enquiries could be conducted virtually, assisting those involved by eradicating transport fees and long waits. Often parties cannot afford the transportation to get to their court trial which has been a major cause for delays in the past. Implementing virtual technology immediately addressed this issue.
It also leads to a faster turnaround time as virtual meetings can be effective and leaves little room for unseen circumstances that prevent parties from showing up for their trial.
Appealing to stakeholders to prioritise maintenance cases
While SAPS was a big help in getting cases put on the court roll earlier than usual, prosecutors and sheriffs also assisted in giving maintenance cases priority in the court. Priority cases were marked with a red sticker to signify the urgency. If cases needed to be postponed, teams asked the parties to bring their witnesses and legal support to court. Only overnight postponements were permitted.
Holding of stakeholder meetings regularly
The Maintenance teams have recognised the importance of collaborating with external stakeholders to make processes more efficient and much faster.
Meetings with stakeholders now take place regularly to ensure that there is never a break in communication and everyone is on the same page when it comes to processing maintenance cases.
Leading by example.
The highly motivated team at Sekhukhune maintenance court reduced their turnaround time for cases from 12 weeks to 8 weeks.
On average, Mahwelereng court increases their daily case finalisation rate from 10 cases per day to 18 per day.
Impressively, Senwabarwana was able to increase their weekly case finalisation rate by 100%, from 20 cases per week before the 100-Day Challenge to 40 per week.
Sustaining their actions.
Maintenance teams are now using all the gadgets to ensure timely and effective communication among all stakeholders. The Integrated Court Management (ICM) system usage is making a big difference and this will be continued. With improved communication and regular team meetings, everyone has absolutely clarity on their roles and understands the importance of efficiency.