Community Safety
Regarding the Court Watching Brief Programme:
- How many cases have been monitored since 2012 to date;
- (a) how many cases have been struck off the roll since 2012 to date and (b) what were the reasons therefor;
- how many of the cases in (2) were the result of a shortage of forensic personnel at the SAPS and the Department of Health;
- of the cases in (2), how many were brought back on the roll after intervention;
- (a) how many cases were resolved and concluded successfully because of the Court Watching Brief Programme since 2012 to date and (b) what are the relevant details?
5. (1) The Court Watching Briefs came into operation in 2013 and to date 4737 cases were reported as struck off the court rolls
(2)(a) During the period 01 October 2013 to 31 March 2018, 4737 cases were struck off various court rolls within the Western Cape
(b) The reasons and systemic failures identified are as follows:
- Investigations remain incomplete after the passing of a reasonable time;
- Dockets are not brought to court;
- Outstanding forensic reports e.g. Post Mortem, Ballistic, Blood Alcohol reports;
- Witnesses are not subpoenaed;
- Accused persons are not brought to court within 48 hours after arrest;
- Return of service of summonses or witness subpoenas are defective; and
- Failure of SAPS officials to attend court as witnesses
(3) This specific information is not available however 465 cases were removed from the court rolls during the above- mentioned period due to forensic reports not being submitted timeously
(4) This answer cannot be furnished as the Department is not notified when cases are placed back on the court roll. It remains the legal responsibility of SAPS.
(5) (a) The success of the Court Watching Briefs are measured when cases are identified that have been removed from the court roll because of a lack of police performance. The Department then reports this to SAPS management and is not tracking cases beyond that point mindful of the fact that is has no oversight jurisdiction over the National Prosecution Authority who must decide to place the case back on the court roll or not. The Court Watching Briefs Unit has also facilitated various priority cases such as those involving attacks on Emergency Medical Staff in which cases the focus is on ensuring that a quality case is put before a court of law.
(b) Quarterly detailed reports are compiled by the Department on the Court Watching Briefs which shall be made available to the member.
