The minister of justice and constitutional development is the

justice minister A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...

in the

Cabinet of South Africa The Cabinet of South Africa is the most senior level of the executive branch of the Government of South Africa. It is made up of the president, the deputy president, and the ministers. Overview The cabinet of South Africa consists of the Presi ...

. The minister is the political head of the

Department of Justice and Constitutional Development The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development is the justice department of the South African government. The department provides administrative and financial support to the court system and the judiciary (which are constitutionally i ...

and the Office of the Chief Justice. DoJCD in turn is responsible for administrative support to the courts, oversight of the

National Prosecuting Authority The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is the agency of the South African Government responsible for state prosecutions. Under Section 179 of the South African Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act of 1998, which establi ...

, the provision of legal services to departments of state, and law reform. The minister was called the minister of justice until 1999, when

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...

matters were added to his portfolio. Between May 2014 and June 2024, the Department of Correctional Services was subsumed under the ministry, which was led by the minister of justice and correctional services. This merger was reversed at the outset of President

Cyril Ramaphosa Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa (born 17 November 1952) is a South African businessman and politician serving as the 5th and current President of South Africa since 2018. A former Anti-Apartheid Movement, anti-apartheid activist and trade union leade ...

's third cabinet, when a separate minister of correctional services was appointed.

History

In the 20th century, the South African justice minister was called the minister of justice. His purview included prisons until late 1990, when President

F. W. de Klerk Frederik Willem de Klerk ( , ; 18 March 1936 – 11 November 2021) was a South African politician who served as the seventh and final state president of South Africa from 1989 to 1994 and as Deputy President of South Africa, deputy president a ...

announced extensive prison reforms and established a separate Ministry of Prisons. Constitutional matters were also a separate portfolio under the minister of constitutional development, and then from 1994 under the minister of constitutional development and provincial affairs. At the outset of the second cabinet of President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Cong ...

in June 1999, constitutional development was detached from provincial affairs and subsumed under justice, under the minister of justice and constitutional development. A further merger took place in May 2014, at the outset of President

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan names Nxamalala and Msholozi. Zuma was a for ...

's second cabinet, when correctional services was subsumed under the ministry, creating the minister of justice and correctional services. However, the Department of Correctional Services remained distinct from the

; although they shared a political head or executive authority, they were operationally and legislatively distinct. They reported to the same parliamentary body, the

Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services The Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Development is a portfolio committee of the National Assembly of South Africa. It is responsible for oversight of the agencies managed by the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Developme ...

, but separately. Each of the two deputy ministers was responsible for one portfolio: John Jeffery was responsible for the justice portfolio, and

Thabang Makwetla Thabang Sampson Makwetla (, born 18 May 1957) is a South African politician who was the third Premier of Mpumalanga between 2004 and 2009. A member of the African National Congress (ANC), he went on to serve as a deputy minister in the South Afri ...

and his successor, Patekile Holomisa, were responsible for correctional services. Appointing his third cabinet on 30 June 2024, President

reversed the merger effected by Zuma, appointing a minister of justice and constitutional development alongside a separate minister of correctional services. Three prime ministers have been minister of justice, including two –

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (baptismal name Jan Christiaan Smuts, 24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as P ...

and

B. J. Vorster Balthazar Johannes "B. J." Vorster (; 13 December 1915 – 10 September 1983), better known as John Vorster, was a South African politician who served as the prime minister of South Africa from 1966 to 1978 and the fourth state president of So ...

– who held the position directly before being elected prime minister. In 2004, Brigitte Mabandla became the first woman to be appointed to the portfolio.

List of ministers

Justice (1910–1999)

Justice and constitutional development (1999–2014)

Justice and correctional services (2014–2024)

Justice and constitutional development (2024–present)

Institutions overseen by the ministry

The following institutions are housed in the justice and correctional services portfolio, although most have a significant degree of operational and statutory independence: *

* Office of the Chief Justice *

Public Protector The Public Protector in South Africa is one of six independent state institutions set up by the country's Constitution to support and defend democracy. According to Section 181 of the Constitution: * These institutions are independent, and subj ...

* Legal Aid South Africa *

South African Human Rights Commission The South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) was inaugurated in October 1995 as an independent chapter nine institution. It draws its mandate from the South African Constitution by way of the Human Rights Commission Act of 1994. Commissio ...

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

* Judicial Service Commission

References

{{SACabinet

Justice In its broadest sense, justice is the idea that individuals should be treated fairly. According to the ''Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy'', the most plausible candidate for a core definition comes from the ''Institutes (Justinian), Inst ...