Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development

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 announced extensive prison reforms and established a separate Ministry of Prisons.^[2] Constitutional matters were also a separate portfolio under the Minister of Constitutional Development,^[3][4] and then from 1994 under the Minister of Constitutional Development and Provincial Affairs.^[5][6] At the outset of the second cabinet of President Thabo Mbeki in June 1999, constitutional development was detached from provincial affairs and subsumed under justice, under the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.^[7]

A further merger took place in May 2014, at the outset of President Jacob Zuma's second cabinet, when correctional services was subsumed under the ministry, creating the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.^[8][9] However, the Department of Correctional Services remained distinct from the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development; although they shared a political head or executive authority, they were operationally and legislatively distinct.^[2] They reported to the same parliamentary body, the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, but separately. Each of the two deputy ministers was responsible for one portfolio: John Jeffery was responsible for the justice portfolio,^[10] and Thabang Makwetla and his successor, Patekile Holomisa, were responsible for correctional services.^[11]

Appointing his third cabinet on 30 June 2024, President Cyril Ramaphosa reversed the merger effected by Zuma, appointing a Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development alongside a separate Minister of Correctional Services.^[12]

Three prime ministers have been Minister of Justice, including two – Jan Smuts and B. J. Vorster – who held the position directly before being elected prime minister. In 2004, Brigitte Mabandla became the first woman to be appointed to the portfolio.

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

• Department of Justice and Constitutional Development
• Office of the Chief Justice
• Public Protector
• National Prosecuting Authority
• Legal Aid South Africa
• South African Human Rights Commission
• Electoral Commission
• Judicial Service Commission