Portfolio_Committee_on_Justice_and_Correctional_Services
Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services
Committee in the National Assembly of South Africa
The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services is a portfolio committee of the National Assembly of South Africa. It is responsible for oversight of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Correctional Services. In addition, it oversees a long list of statutory entities related to justice and law enforcement: the Council for Debt Collectors, the Judicial Inspectorate for Correctional Services, Legal Aid South Africa, the National Prosecuting Authority, the Office of the Chief Justice, the Public Protector, the Rules Board for Courts of Law, the South African Board for Sheriffs, the South African Human Rights Commission, and the Special Investigating Unit.[1]
The committee was established during the first post-apartheid Parliament as the Portfolio Committee on Justice, chaired for two terms by Johnny de Lange. It was later renamed as the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development after the Department of Justice was renamed accordingly. It took its current form after the 2014 general election, when it merged with the Portfolio Committee on Correctional Services; the merger was precipitated by the corresponding ministerial merger that created the Ministry of Justice and Correctional Services.