annrep 1011 1 to 148.qxp - Department of Defence

D E P A R T M E N T O F D E F E N C ES U B P R O G R A M M E : L E G A LS E R V I C E SO v e r v i e wThe period under review saw the Defence Legal ServicesDivision (DLSD) making significant progress in filling allnewly established posts. However, further structural expansionsare still required.The Division provided law support and legal advice asrequired for external and internal operations, exercises, adhoc deployments / investigations, operational law traininglectures and refresher law training sessions. Military law supportand legal advice was also rendered with the drafting of17 bilateral and multilateral Memoranda of Understanding.A total of 1 312 requests for legal advice was received and theDivision could attend to 1 305 of those. The Court ofMilitary Appeals finalised 42 cases that were set down forhearing and 29 dockets were received from the MilitaryProsecution.In support of the priority of the Minister to improve theservice conditions of the members of the SANDF, theDivision was instrumental in the formulation and developmentof the Defence Amendment Bill. The Bill was approvedby Cabinet, passed by the National Assembly and sent to theNational Council of Provinces and assented to by the Presidenton 09 Dec 2010. The Defence Amendment Act (Act No.22 of 2010) provides for the establishment of a permanentDefence Force Service Commission (DFSC) to advise theMinister on the conditions of service of SANDF membersand also for obligatory service for the Reserves in circumstancesshort of war or a state of national defence.In order to enhance skills development in the defence legalcorps, the Division presented four Military Law Courses atthe School for Military Justice. The school received fullaccreditation from the SA Qualification Authority as a serviceprovider for three (3) subjects and accreditation for seven(7) of the facilitators as moderators and assessors.The challenges that placed an enormous burden on theDivision during the reporting period, included the seriousdecline in the allocated operating budget due to the expansionof the human resources budget, the non-availability of variousposts as a result of the Division being inadequately capacitatedin the operations environment as well as the shortage oftrained Military Law Practitioners, both Regular and Reservemembers.Despite the human resources, skills and structural constraintsthe Division continued to ensure that military justice was providedin the DOD in line with national standards.O b j e c t i v e s a n d M e a s u r e sThe Legal Services provides professional, legitimate anddeployable military legal services and support commensuratewith the needs of the DOD.O u t p u t D e t a i lTable 4.7 below provides details of the Legal ServicesSubprogramme output, performance measures and targets asspecified in the output table in the DOD Strategic PlanFY2010/11.Table 4.7: Legal Services Output Detail for the FY2010/11OutputDefence LegalService capabilityandservicesPerformanceIndicatorDegree to which MilitaryJustice inputs and legalsupport have been providedas prescribed inthe Military DisciplineSupplementary MeasuresAct (MDSMA), ActNo 16 of 1999, theDefence Act, Act 42 of2002 and any other applicablelegislationDegree to which a comprehensive legal adviceservice and capability areprovided to the MOD,Sec Def and the Chief ofthe SANDFAnnualTargetMilitary justice inputsand legal supportprovided as prescribed100% of all requestedlegal advice provided80% of all facilitatedlitigation must beattended toActual TargetAchievementMilitary justice inputs andlegal support were providedas prescribed99% of all requested legaladvice was provided100% of all facilitated litigationwas attended toReasons for Over/Under AchievementAchievedAchievedAchieved36ANNUAL REPORT FY 2010/2011