Justice and Constitutional Development Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has heaped praise on the Court Online System aimed to improve access to justice and streamlining the litigation process for litigants.

The system has been introduced in the superior courts to ensure electronic filing to initiate cases electronically and to increase efficiency and reducing paperwork.

Launched in September 2024, the Court Online System has been operational in 11 courts for all civil matters in the Gauteng Division, the Western Cape Division, the Labour Court and the Land Court.

The department has assured that further rollout of the system to an additional 11 courts is on track and for completion by the end of the 2025/2026 financial year, with plans to extend it to all divisions of the high court.

Kubayi explained that the Court Online System has two portals with one being meant for e-filing by litigants to initiate cases and the other for the evidence management system used during hearings.

She also said the system has resulted in the efficient monitoring and control of the litigation processes involving all cases initiated on the system.

“It can be stated that no files and or court documents have since been lost. Furthermore, it can also be stated that overall, the system has enhanced efficiency in operations as the litigation processes are expedited,” Kubayi said.

She was responding to parliamentary questions posed by IFP MP Albert Mncwango when he asked about the evaluations that have been conducted to assess its impact on expediting case finalisation and the lessons that have been drawn from its implementation in Gauteng.

According to Kubayi, the Court Online System was not geared towards minimising or reducing case backlogs.

“That is the function of the number and availability of judges as well as the conduct of litigants in expediting their matters.”

She stated that the Court Online utilisation figures in the Gauteng Division indicated that the total number of firms registered were 6,424 between April 2024 and March 31 this year.

During the same period the total number of portal end-users registered comprised 10,150.

“These users may be also litigants in matters in other divisions of the high court and specialist courts that have gone live in using the system,” Kubayi said.

In a recent parliamentary reply furnished to DA MP Damien Klopper, the minister said there were no significant challenges currently experienced with electronic filing, apart from the requirement that users must be registered before accessing the Court Online System.

Kubayi also said the system was only available to legal practitioners who are in good standing with the Legal Practice Council (LPC).

“Newly admitted legal practitioners and those whose marital status has changed occasionally face difficulties during registration, as the system may fail to verify and validate their LPC registration status. This is due to the Court Online system not yet being fully integrated with the LPC’s database. In such cases, manual verification against the LPC database is conducted.”

Kubayi added the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ) was currently engaging with the LPC to achieve full integration, which will enable real-time verification of legal practitioners’ LPC status.

The minister also said no challenges were reported with automated scheduling of hearings and trials, case tracking for monitoring case progress, storage and access to case documents, and notifications to parties involved.

“However, it is important to note that, due to security concerns and high storage costs, the system currently supports only the uploading of PDF documents. Alternative solutions are being explored to accommodate the uploading of audio and video recordings.”

Kubayi noted that the roll out and implementation of the Court Online system has provided valuable lessons for the successful implementation of the system nationally.

“A stable network infrastructure is required, and thus the OCJ has rolled out an infrastructure refresh project that covers 100% WIFI coverage and network bandwidth upgrades,” she said about some of the lessons learnt.

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