As luck would have it all the senior managers of the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court were out of office when a presidential monitoring team decided to pay them a surprise visit on Tuesday.
As luck would have it all the senior managers of the Grahamstown Magistrate's Court were out of office when a presidential monitoring team decided to pay them a surprise visit on Tuesday.
Both the area and court managers were attending a function in East London when the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Department of the Presidency turned up, but assistant director in the court's financial administration department, Pamela Smith, took over the reigns.
Before the monitoring team, including a representative from the office of Eastern Cape Premier Noxolo Kiviet, could start their assessment a meeting was held to lay down some ground rules. The team was then split into three groups; one to interview Smith, another to interview citizens inside the court and the last to observe the general state of the court building.
Speaking to Grocott's Mail during their inspection, the monitoring department's head of communications Bonnie Ramaila said one of her main concerns was the lack of visible sign boards on the street directing people to the court.
Ramaila said it was generally in a good condition, but emphasised that signage needed to be bigger and more visible in areas outside and within the court, like in its maintenance section.
An almost unanimous complaint from citizens interviewed was the length of time they spent waiting before going into court. A number of them said they spend more time sitting outside waiting for things to happen than they do in front of a magistrate. They also said that there was no clear communication from court officials about the exact starting times of proceedings.
The citizens were happy about the fact that opening and closing times were always clear and they said they always felt safe inside the court. However, they weren't happy with the lack of action or response to their complaints lodged through the suggestion box. It was also said that there was a lack of urgency when it came to court staff helping people waiting to be served.
Ramaila said a report about the findings of the monitoring session would be compiled, adding that more government departments around the country were going to be paid these unannounced visits to ensure that services are offered to the people.
