Seeking the friendly face of justice: Community assistance in the family court

Abstract

After more than fifteen years of anticipation, a Pilot Project Family Court bas at last been established in Cape Town as one of five such courts throughout South Africa. The aim of the Court is to provide urgently needed judicial services to families at a reasonable cost, treating the family holistically by amalgamating the services of the divorce, maintenance, family violence and children's courts. To ·date, however, only the divorce section of the Court as envisaged has begun operation.

The idea of a Family Court- has been on the table ever since the first Hoexter Commission (1983) reported, although there pas been much disagreement as to quite what form the court should talce. However ; throghout the two Hoexter Commission reports (1983; 1997) and the various Department of Justice policy papers and speeches on the proposed court, one theme has persisted that of ensuring that the court is user-friendly.