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Court Chaos
| Date: |
28 October 2007 12:00 |
| Producer: |
Wynand Grobler
Magteld Venter
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| Presenter: |
Devi Sankaree Govender
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| Show: | Carte Blanche |
For the fourth time, this alleged car thief has appeared at the Pretoria Magistrates Court. Each time the docket has been missing. Today the Magistrate has no choice but to let this man walk free.
Magistrate: "This is the fourth occasion that the docket has not been here. The matter against you is withdrawn. You are not acquitted; you may be charged again. I don't know whether that will happen, but at this stage the charges are withdrawn against you. You will be released."
In the same court, in the same month, the docket room is broken into overnight. Our informant at the court says it is not the first time.
"Thabo": "Access was gained by duplicate keys. The people possibly hid in the court and at night came out and, at their leisure, took all the dockets that they were looking for. They prevented the police and the department of justice to prosecute those people."
And again in the same court a year ago, security was breeched and senior control prosecutor, Marisa Booyse, was stabbed 14 times in her office. She hasn't returned to work since.
"Thabo": "I don't think anything has improved. I think it got worse. People are made aware of the problem and for two weeks people are on guard and cautious and then it's not so important anymore. After a while people just go back to the same standards that they're used to."
But the Justice Department told us that security has improved since the stabbing, so we went undercover to test it. The electronic access doors were broken and, in the passages where the prosecutors sit, there was no sign of security. We walked right past Marisa Booyse's old office.
Devi Sankaree Govender (Carte Blanche presenter): "This week chaos in courts made headlines again. Members of parliament heard that about 70 percent of the criminal cases never make it to trial. The reasons were: lack of evidence, lost dockets, cases being withdrawn or struck off the roll by judicial officers, and the failure of accused to attend court proceedings."
The figures are astonishing. Of the 1 055 000 criminal cases enrolled, 720 000 were removed from the roll. Buddy Vroom witnessed first-hand how so many cases could fall into the abyss. He was a hostage negotiator and detective. Disillusioned, he left the police after 14 years.
Buddy Vroom (Ex-Police Detective): "When you do arrest your suspect and prepare your docket properly and you know that your investigation is complete and you send it to court and that docket goes missing, or your chain of evidence is broken, it tends to be very disconcerting and you feel a sense of failure and the system isn't working. Why should I be trying my best when the system is failing me?"
Devi: "There are 22 000 police detectives to investigate over a million new cases each year."
Buddy says policemen would have to investigate anything between 80 and 400 dockets. So sometimes, to lighten their workload, detectives would befriend a prosecutor and ask them to withdraw a case '' at times it was legitimate, others it wasn't.
Buddy: "If you knew a prosecutor and you had a good friendship with him, you could take a heap of dockets and they would just stamp them and withdraw."
Devi: "These are no small difficulties in themselves, but it is part of the picture."
Carte Blanche receives numerous pleas for help from a desperate public who rely on the justice system. One of the many complaints is just how much time they are kept waiting in the dark.
Andrew Dix (Businessman): "It isn't even now clear to me what the hold-up is. The immediate cause of the delay is stated as being that the judge is very busy. But, you know, the future is infinite. I strongly suspect that there's a date €¦ perhaps in 2012€¦ when the judge won't be busy €¦ so why don't they give me a date in 2012?"
Andrew Dix was embroiled in a financial dispute in 2001. In May 2005 he got his day in court, but his case was only part-heard. To get another date, he has written to the public protector, the Constitutional Court, as well as the Chief Justice. He received a reply from the Judge President, yet he's still waiting for that date and believes that the delays are a violation of his constitutional rights.
Andrew: "There is a much more important point here than my little case. If the judiciary themselves violate the Constitution then they strike at the heart of the law in this country."
"Charlotte": "I really want somebody to help me, please."
Germiston Magistrate's Court: "What are you talking about?"
"Charlotte": "My maintenance."
"Charlotte" turned to the Germiston Magistrate's Court to help her get R1 000 maintenance per month for her two children.
She has waited a year and, in that time, they have tied her up in a knot of bureaucracy. She has taken time off work, they have lost her faxes, and the affidavits they demanded from her are missing.
"Charlotte": "Remember you lost that one document that was in my file €¦ and you said you were going to phone me back."
Once again our cameras showed that she was treated with disdain and indifference. She's not the only one. Carte Blanche is inundated with complaints about the maintenance courts.
"Charlotte": "They do not treat you well at all. They actually make you feel like a criminal."
Devi: "Explain that."
Charlotte: "It's humiliating. When you go in it's a real effort for them to even want to help you. Every time I've left there I've left in tears."
Devi: "What do you think is the problem? Is it that they don't know how to do their job?"
"Charlotte": "I actually think they don't care. I really believe they don't care."
Devi: "Is it as bad as we think it is?
Johan Gresse (Law Society: Northern Province): "It's worse. It really is worse."
Johan Gresse is a retired magistrate and chairman of the Criminal Law Society.
Devi: "Why do you think the public has this perception that the justice system is in a complete state of shambles?"
Johan: "I think the perception may be very right. At the present moment the system is failing completely€¦ not only as far as the professional side of the department is concerned '' that is the magistrates and the prosecutors '' but also the administrative side, where the clerks and these people are obliged to serve the public and help them. They really haven't got the background."
Roshni Pillay is an attorney. Her client Mustapha Amod was unfairly dismissed in March 2002. After two-and-a-half years the CCMA finally found in his favour, but his employers appealed the judgement in the Labour Court and he had to wait a further 18 months for his day in court.
Mustapha Amod: "You continually hear that the judges are not available."
Eventually Mustapha got his day in court, but the judge, Judge Sandi, took over a year simply to hand down his judgement.
Roshni Pillay (Attorney): "One cannot understand how [can a judge] take so long to give a judgement. We were in court for two hours€¦ only two hours€¦ he listened to us for two hours. It cannot be so difficult that it will take a year for him to write up a judgment."
They complained to the Judge President.
Devi: "What response did the judge president give you?"
Mustapha: "That he himself was having difficulty in getting hold of Judge Sandi."
In July this year, Judge Sandi finally handed down his judgement in favour of Mustapha and he was reinstated. But it took five years out of his life and cost him half a million rand.
Devi: "In June this year, a report compiled by the National Prosecuting Authority and Lower Court Management Forum was leaked to the media. It paints a shocking picture of dysfunction within the courts."
Lack of discipline, lack of filing, lack of control, negligence, carelessness, indolence and lack of experienced, competent and trained management are just some of the issues the report highlights. The report ends with a plea to the department: "The department is requested to urgently address the mentioned risks and problems which could cause a total collapse in the administration and supporting service to the Judiciary and the NPA."
Advocate Jiyane is the Deputy Director General at the Department of Justice and is in charge of court services.
Devi: "What is your response to the report that was released to the Beeld recently?"
Adv. Simon Jiyane (Deputy Director General: Court Services): "Let me first say that the report was read out of context by the media."
The report, he said, emanated from a national discussion and it was a general observation of the issues.
Adv. Jiyane: "What I asked in person was that we follow up that report in each and every detail."
Devi: "I just need to understand€¦ are there any lies in this report?"
Adv. Jiyane: "It was a generalisation of events. That's what I'm saying to you. We are not dismissing the report."
It's administrative errors that led to Julia Mashele's very long wait behind bars.
Julia Mashele: "From seven o'clock or eight o'clock in the morning up to tea time there's no court which started. So do you think we'll improve in the justice system, because the backlog is there?"
In 1993 Julia was arrested. The allegations: her transport business was involved in criminal activity. She believes she was set up by rivals and corrupt cops. She says her case was postponed an incredible 261 times.
Devi: "Surely a time would have come while you were awaiting trial where you thought this is too long?"
Julia: "What made me really feel it's unfair is when other people come to prison and then they find me there. They go out on bail and they come back sentenced ... serve their sentence in prison. They go out again leaving me there, and they go out and commit another crime; they come back to find me there and leave me there."
And they left her there for almost seven years. Julia was eventually acquitted. She has since self-published two books about her experience, and founded an NGO that helps other awaiting trial prisoners.
Julia: "You know, if I can tell you now, there is people there at Pretoria male prison who are 10 years awaiting trial €¦ 10 years."
Overcrowding is rife in South African prisons. Of about 160 000 prisoners, more than 46 000 are awaiting trial. To reduce these numbers, the Department of Justice has appointed a special task team.
Overall, the backlog statistics are intimidating. As of September this year the national figures released by the Department of Justice show the extent of the problem.
There are a total of 196 000 cases outstanding, of which 32 000 are backlog. In the High Court, of the 1 200 outstanding cases, 206 are older than a year. Of the 48 000 cases in the Regional Courts, 16 000 are outstanding for more than nine months. And of the 146 000 cases in the District Courts, 16 400 are outstanding for longer than six months.
Devi: "In fact, the backlogs became such a headache for the Department of Justice last year that emergency measures were introduced to reduce them.
Devi: "Talking to South Africans, are you happy with the way in which the Department of Justice is delivering?"
Adv. Jiyane: "I must first acknowledge myself as a South African and I am not happy. However, I must say, I am hopeful because there are initiatives on the ground to deal with these particular issues. What really comforts me is that we have a plan to address it and we have started implementing that plan. It may not be showing results, but it is showing to us that at a practical level there are some kinds of results."
Twenty-one courts are now part of the backlog project and retired magistrates, prosecutors and admin staff are all chipping in. They have also introduced other changes. The integrated justice system ensures that different government departments speak the same language. IT has been upgraded and a case flow management system has been introduced.
Devi: "If you ask the justice department, they will list many new initiatives that they have put in place to jack up the system. But somewhere, between what they say they are doing and what the people on the ground experience. is a huge gap."
We visited a number of courts across Gauteng. Considering the backlogs, we expected to find frenzied activity at courts, but our hidden cameras show a different story.
[October, 2006: Pretoria High Court]
It was 2pm on a Friday afternoon and we couldn't find anyone in the entire building. Nothing was happening, despite the fact that the court officially closes at 4pm.
[September, 2007: Pretoria Magistrate Court]
It was around 11:30 am in the morning and the clerks were reading their newspapers in their offices.
Then on 7 August this year, our cellphones recorded that after lunch, in the Wynberg Magistrate's Court, not a single court was in session. In Randburg only four out of 14 courts were in session.
These are scenes all too familiar to Johan Gresse.
Johan: "We complain about the fact that the courts are not starting on time. That is not always the prosecutor's fault. Very often it's the magistrate's fault who's sitting around with his buddies, having tea or something like that, and eventually decides to come to court. When he comes to court you find that the interpreter has not pitched up; he's refusing to interpret from one language to another for whatever reason. Now lately they have these new-fangled recording equipment machines in the court. These operators also sometimes are not available in court€¦ so one person can dysfunction the whole court procedure for a whole day."
Some of the courts we visited have been revamped, but there are others that are run down and in a shoddy condition.
We took our cameras into the Pretoria Magistrate's Court. Inside, a policeman was smoking, disregarding the no smoking sign. Toilets were dirty. Dockets were lying in the passage. Cables hung from the ceiling and furniture and computers were stacked in an alley. And it is the job of newly-appointed court managers to eliminate this kind of thing.
Adv. Jiyane: "My sense is that one cannot expect results overnight, so one of the issues is to build that management capacity. We have acknowledged, as government and the Department of Justice, that, unless we build a credible capacity at court level, we will not be able to get results."
Advocate Jiyne says that within a year we will notice a considerable difference. But in the meantime he has made a personal commitment.
Adv. Jiyane: "Each and every complaint we pursue to ensure that the person at the end of the day is assisted. So I'm saying that if people are not assisted in terms of what I'm saying here, I'm available on a 24-hour basis to be of assistance in those kinds of matters."
Devi: "So can we flash your office number on the screen?"
Adv. Jiyane: "You can€¦ you can, by all means."
Well, Advocate Jiyane, be prepared€¦ the public of South Africa will be calling you [012 315 1814].
IMPORTANT DISCLAIMER:While every attempt has been made to ensure this transcript or summary is accurate, Carte Blanche or its agents cannot be held liable for any claims arising out of inaccuracies caused by human error or electronic fault. This transcript was typed from a transcription recording unit and not from an original script, so due to the possibility of mishearing and the difficulty, in some cases, of identifying individual speakers, errors cannot be ruled out.
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