Uphold and protect the Constitution and the rule of law, and render accessible, fair, speedy and cost-effective administration of justice in the interests of a safer and more secure South Africa.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development derives its mandate from the Constitution and a number of acts that assign functions to it. These include: the establishment of magistrate’s courts and the appointment of magistrates and other judicial officers, the establishment and functioning of the National Prosecuting Authority, the conducting of criminal proceedings, the prosecution of organised crime and corruption, and the forfeiture of assets obtained through illicit means, the provision of witness protection to vulnerable and intimidated witnesses and their related persons in judicial proceedings, the establishment and functioning of bodies responsible for legal aid, law reform and rule-making, the appointment of masters of the high courts, the management of third-party funds, the administration of the Guardian’s Fund and deceased and insolvent estates, the management of state litigation, the regulation and provision of legal advisory services to government departments, the promotion, protection and enforcement of human rights, the protection of vulnerable groups, and the provision of support to chapter 9 institutions.
The Estimates of National Expenditure (ENE) is a book published along with the tabling of the budget for the new financial year.
A department's programmes are the activities that it spends money on during the financial year. Different programmes have different budgets, depending on their objectives and available budgets. More detail on the programmes is available in the department's Estimates of National Expenditure documents.
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In addition to exploring the department budget by programmes, the budget is classified according to Economic Classification.
The Economic Classification of a department's expenditure distinguishes between various categories of current expenditure and capital expenditure. The purpose of the economic classification is to categorise transactions according to type of object or input, such as compensation of employees or capital assets.
This visualisation highlights how many categories of expenditure there are for this department at Economic Classification level 4, and which ones are the biggest. year -- 2026-27
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Explore how the budget is distributed across spending items.
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Bubble size shows relative budget value. Select a bubble for more detail.
Budget programmes will differ in composition of spending, from compensation of employees, transfers to other agencies and goods and services, depending on their objective.
Select an Economic Classification to filter the data in this chart and see how much programmes spend on that category.
Only the categories that this department spends on are shown in the filter.
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The Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure (AENE) is a book published along with the tabling of the adjusted budget.
No adjusted budget data is available for this department for 2026-27.
Budgeted and actual expenditure for a department can increase or decrease from year to year. Changes in expenditure can follow shifts in departmental activities, priorities, efficiencies, and the price of goods and services over time.
The chart shows the department's latest available historical expenditure for past years, and planned expenditure for the current year and medium-term expenditure framework (MTEF) years.
The phase used for each year is shown below:
Compare the adjusted appropriation to the main appropriation to see whether changes were made in the adjustments budget to the appropriations set out in the budget. The audited outcome shows what was actually spent.
Note: Direct charges against the National Revenue Fund are excluded.
Read more in the Annual Report on the department's website.
Compare the amount of budget allocated to each of this deparment’s programmes at each phase in the process leading up to the Audited Outcome
National Treasury, departments and commitees are busy with different things depending on the time of year: