Crime victims across the Eastern Cape who saw their matters either struck off the roll, or not even making it to court, have another chance to see justice being carried out.
On Tuesday, safety and liaison MEC Weziwe Tikana-Gxothiwe launched the court watch brief programme to discover scores of police dockets that had either been thrown out of court or withdrawn by the state.
These matters will be reviewed and if they are found valid, reintroduced in the courts of law.
Speaking at the launch in Mthatha, Tikana-Gxothiwe said officials from her department would be delegated to visit magistrate’s courts across the province to go through dormant cases and dockets.
“This is informed by a number of people who made submissions and queries to either myself or the head of department about their cases being struck off the roll and deregistered,” she said.
“Others said they don’t receive any feedback with regards to the progress on their cases. If there is sufficient information, a case will be re-registered and witnesses activated.”
The programme was reportedly piloted in Ngcobo after several complaints were received. Departmental officials were able to engage with state prosecutors and police officers responsible for the cases.
The MEC said some cases had been struck off the roll more than five years ago.
She and EC provincial police commissioner Lt-Gen Liziwe Ntshinga had agreed that some police detectives would have to be taken for training to enable them to draft dockets that would be registered by the National Prosecuting Authority.
She said her department was setting up a toll-free number for people seeking justice in matters that stalled and died when they were deregistered.
GBV and femicide cases would be prioritised, but other outstanding crime cases would still be revisited.
If justice was not served, we have a responsibility to ensure that we service that particular individual
“If justice was not served, we have a responsibility to ensure that we service that particular individual.”
On Tuesday, Tikana-Gxothiwe also officially launched the department’s safety month at an event which drew together government, residents, municipal authorities and other stakeholders to share ideas on how to fight crime.
Safety Month had been brought forward from February because of an expected sharp increase in crime over the festive season.
She urged communities to ensure that taverns were not allowed to operate into the early hours.
“Police are not in bedrooms and they are not in homes. Even if the road to your area is fixed, the crime will have been committed by the time they get there,” she said.
She said the onus was on citizens to report criminals to authorities so they could be arrested.
In a snapshot of crime statistics during the pandemic, the SAPS said Nelson Mandela Bay Metro had accounted for 24.2% of crimes reported between April and September, followed by the OR Tambo district at 18.1%, while BCM came in third with 13.4%.
SAPs officers said though there had been a general decline in most forms of crime, there was an increase in business burglary, stock theft, carjacking, drug-related offences and truck hijacking, especially in the OR Tambo and Alfred Nzo districts.
Several police stations in the two districts made the top 30 stations in SA with the most crimes reported during the first six months of 2020.
Bityi placed 20th when it came to the number of murders reported, with Lusikisiki at 24 and Mthatha and 27. For rapes, Lusikisiki came in 11th position with Mthatha at 15 and Ngqeleni at 20.
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