Issued by: Department Of Justice
MEDIA RELEASE BY THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE RELATING TO AN ARTICLE ENTITLED "TERRIBLE CORRUPTION IN DEPT OF JUSTICE, SAYS OMAR", CITIZEN: THURSDAY, 16 MAY 1996.
The heading of the above-mentioned article conveys a very distorted picture of what the Minister really said in his speech.
Although the quotes used in this article are correct, they have been isolated by this newspaper to give a distorted meaning of what was conveyed by the Minister, which was that the corruption referred to was relevant to the criminal justice system as a whole and not just the Department of Justice. He expounded hereon in his examples and in particular referred to the South African Police Service, which forms part of the criminal justice system.
The Minister, in fact, said the following during his budget vote speech on Wednesday, 15 May 1996:
"There are many limitations and weaknesses in our criminal justice system. Through the application of the National Crime Prevention Strategy, we are confident that those problems and weaknesses such as poor court management, poor case management, the need to upgrade the skills of personnel, provide better training and develop professionalism will be solved.
With all our present limitations, however, our criminal justice system could have been dramatically more effective now and as its stands, were it not for the terrible corruption which exists within the system. It is very important that corruption be ripped open and exposed. The public is entitled to know the truth. Indeed local communities know of the corruption within the system in their local areas. But public acknowledgment is essential, so as to enable us to find solutions. In my view a major reason that perpetrators of serious crime, especially in gangsterism, syndicate activity, including drug trafficking - are not arrested is because elements in the criminal justice system co-operate with them to help them avoid and prevent arrest. One of the major reasons (in addition to other weaknesses in the system) for poor investigations, easy bail, unsuccessful prosecution, withdrawal of cases, is because elements within the criminal justice system manipulate cases to achieve such results. That is why police dockets disappear, why dockets are not in court on trial dates, why witnesses are not in court when cases are called and why important evidence is often not placed before courts.
I have personally spoken to ordinary hard-working decent policemen and women who are on the beat and who take risks in performing their duties. Not only are they demorallised by poor pay, lack of equipment and facilities, their major demoralisation flows from collusion which exists within the criminal justice system with gang leaders and syndicate leaders. I am personally not satisfied that the steps being taken to deal with that corruption is adequate and I have informed my counterpart in Safety and Security of my view. I mention this not to shift blame or responsibility from our courts. I want an independent competent body to investigate that corruption because unless we eradicate this, we will not restore confidence in the criminal justice system. Steps are in the pipeline for independent investigation."
The headline used in this article "TERRIBLE CORRUPTION IN DEPT OF JUSTICE, SAYS OMAR", is thus clearly one-sided in that it only refers to the Department of Justice and not all the other different components of the criminal justice system.
In view of the above the editor of the Citizen was requested to publish a correction as soon as possible so as to put the Minister's statement into a correct perspective.
In addition to the above, please also find a media release issued by the Association of Regional Magistrates of South Africa, which bears out the points raised above.
ISSUED BY THE CHIEF LIAISON OFFICER OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Enquiries: Adv Pieter du Rand Tel: (012) 323 9302 x 2197 fax: (012) 21 8291
Pretoria 17 May 1996