Honourable Members, we still confront unacceptably high levels of crime in our country. Government spending on public order and safety and on defence will therefore continue to increase, from R163 billion this year to R193 billion by 2017/18. Police services receive about 48 per cent of the total allocation.

Effective and efficient courts, under Minister Masutha’s oversight and Chief Justice Mogoeng’s leadership, are central to constitutional democracy and the functioning of the criminal justice system. Over the medium term, a total amount of R492 million has been reprioritised towards improving access to justice. This will increase capacity for court support personnel, public defenders and prosecutors.

In order to strengthen the independence of the judiciary, the Office of the Chief Justice has been established as a new department. It becomes fully operational on the 1st April 2015, with a budget over the MTEF period of R5.2 billion.

The fight against corruption remains a central priority. Additional allocations have been made to the Public Protector and the Financial Intelligence Centre for increasing their human resource capacity.

South Africa’s defence force under Minister Mapisa-Nqakula will continue to be deployed for safeguarding our borders and in peacekeeping operations in several conflict areas. Budget provision for border safeguarding and regional security amounts to R2.8 billion and R4.5 billion, respectively, over the next three years.

The budget also includes R834 million for access of military veterans to health care and housing services.