Durban: Justice and Constitutional Development Minister, Thembi Simelane, is expected to visit the Durban Magistrate’s Court to assess progress in the implementation of the virtual remand detainee system on Friday.

According to South African Government News Agency, the court has experienced ‘numerous connectivity challenges that have delayed the roll out of the virtual remand detainee system’. As part of the visit, Minister Simelane, along with Deputy Minister Andries Nel, will engage with officials from the Justice, Correctional Services, and South African Police Services, as well as the magistracy, to receive a briefing on how they have experienced the system.

The department explained that the virtual system is part of its modernisation programme and is used in the postponement of criminal cases against accused persons in custody awaiting trial via a high-quality audio-visual link between the Correctional Centre and the Court. This project aligns with the National Development Plan: 2030, which advocates
for safer communities by reducing the risk of escape by inmates while at court or in transit. It also minimizes security risks at the court and the propensity for smuggling contraband and weapons into holding cells.

Virtual hearings have been successfully implemented across most courts in KwaZulu-Natal Province, with 169 virtual trials already conducted at the Durban Magistrates Court in the current financial year (2024/25). These trials have included connections with witnesses from other provinces, as well as from countries such as the UK, USA, Dubai, Scotland, and Zimbabwe. This technology has been extended for use in the remand of detainees, and the courts in Durban and Pietermaritzburg, along with the correctional facilities to which they are linked, are now operational.