National Prosecuting Authority CLAIMS success... alas its all lies

Despite more than half of the cases set down for trial in court disappearing from the court rolls, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has claimed an 88% rate of successful prosecutions.

Reading the annual reports of the police and NPA together shows that a vast number of serious crime cases reported to the police are never enrolled for trial. Of those that are, more than 50% are taken off the roll for various reasons.

The two reports show that despite a moderate decline in the incidence of some serious crimes and an improvement in efficiency at the NPA, the country still has a great deal of serious crime — with more than a 75% chance of the culprits getting away with it.

National director of public prosecutions Menzi Simelane, in his first annual report tabled in Parliament yesterday, said there had been an improvement in the performance of the prosecuting service in 2009-10, with the conviction rate rising almost 3% from that achieved in the 2008-09 financial year.

“The disposal rate of the courts is also indicative of their improved performance. During 2008-09, a total of 1,07-million cases were disposed, of which 59,7% were removed from the roll by means of withdrawal, issuing of a warrant, transfer, mental referral or struck off the roll, and 40,3% were finalised with a verdict or an alternate dispute resolution method,” Mr Simelane said.

“During 2009-10, fewer cases were removed from the roll (and) more were finalised. A total of 1,06-million cases were disposed, of which 55,9% were removed from the roll and 44,1% were finalised. This translates into a 3,7% increase compared to 2008-09.”(from BusinessDay)