(1)(a) What is the status of the court case at the Equality Court in Gauteng regarding the alleged racist utterances made by a certain person (name and details furnished) and (b) by what date is it envisaged that the specified court would reach an outcome;
(2) what are the reasons that the specified matter has not been addressed and/or prioritised yet, while other racist utterances like that of Ms Penny Sparrow were met with a guilty verdict of hate speech within a short period of time;
(3) whether he has found that the specified person is receiving special treatment; if not, what are the reasons that the specified person has not been held accountable yet; if so, what are the relevant details?
The matter is being dealt with by the SA Human Rights Commission who have provided me inter alia with the following report:
The complaint was initiated by the Commission’s Northern Cape Provincial Office (NCPO) when they became aware of the audio recording. The NCPO made a preliminary assessment of the complaint and determined that the complaint would best be dealt with through litigation in ...
(1) What total legal costs were incurred for the proceedings instituted by the Government against the State of Israel on 29 December 2023 before the International Court of Justice;
(2) whether any third parties sponsored South Africa’s application, be it financially and/or otherwise; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) what was the (a) size of the South African legal team, including foreign attorneys and (b) total number of (i) Members of Parliament and (ii) State officials who were invited by his department to attend the proceedings;
(4) what was the total (a) travel and (b) accommodation costs incurred by his department for all (i) legal personnel, (ii) politicians and (iii) State officials;
(5) whether he will make a statement on the matter?
1.Three government Departments namely, the Presidency, International Relations and Cooperation and Justice and Constitutional Development had legal representation for the ICJ case argued on 11 and 12 January 2024.
I am only able to respond with regard to the Counsel and costs falling under the Department I am responsible for.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development had 1 senior and 2 junior counsel ...
In what total number of the 137 Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) cases under investigation has the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) and National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) component (a) identified potential suspects who are still alive and may potentially be prosecuted, (b) established definitively that there are no living suspects who may be prosecuted and (c) is yet to establish whether there are living suspects who may be prosecuted;
(2) whether the Department of Justice, NPA and/or DPCI is in possession of a definitive list of cases that were transferred from the TRC; if not, what is being referenced when he refers to cases that were referred by the TRC; if so, (a)(i) who compiled the specified list and (ii) on what date was it completed, (b)(i) on what date was the list transferred to the NPA and (ii) to whom, (c) what fields are included in the list and (d) what total number of cases are included?
1(a) Thus far, there are eight (8) cases which are on the criminal court roll where suspects are being prosecuted for multiple offences emanating from TRC matters.
(b) In addition, two (2) matters are pending, as indictments are being prepared to charge suspects who are still alive. An additional two (2) matters, post the re-opening of inquests, have been identified where the NPA is ...
(a) What is the breakdown of the costs for each line item of the Republic’s litigation in the South Africa vs Israel case at the International Court of Justice and (b) from which departmental budgets were the funds sourced?
(a) Three government Departments namely, the Presidency, International Relations and Cooperation and Justice and Constitutional Development had legal representation for the ICJ case argued on 11 and 12 January 2024.
I am only able to respond with regard to the Counsel and costs falling under the Department I am responsible for.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development briefed three legal practitioners / counsel ...
(1)How does he reconcile the constitutional injunction for the promotion of all South African official languages with the directive issued by the Legal Practice Council on 13 December 2023 forcing candidate attorneys to only write their legal examinations in English;
(2) how does he find does the abandonment of multilingualism in favour of English monolingualism in the judicial system, impact upon the right to a fair trial that a person, who is not an English first-language speaker, may rely upon as provided for in section 35(3) of the Constitution of the Republic, 1996?
Question 1:
1. The LPC does not form part of either national or provincial government. Nor is the LPC listed as a “national public entity” under the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, as contemplated in the Use of Official Languages Act 12 of 2012. As such, the suggestion that section 6(3)(a) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa Act 108 of 1996 ...
Whether his department intends amending the Special Investigating Unit proclamation to enable the investigation of alleged fraudulent degrees conferred by the University of Fort Hare; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details?
a) The Special Investigating Unit submitted a motivation to amend the scope of Proclamation R84 OF 2022 to the Department of Justice and Correctional Services on 7 July 2023. The Department of Justice and Correctional Services is processing the motivation.
b) The motivation relates to allegations of maladministration in the affairs of the University of Fort Hare in the awarding of degrees, among others.
(1) Whether, with reference to his reply to question 226 on 15 March 2024, and in particular, subsection (1), he has established the reasons that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) failed to prosecute the cases referred for prosecution by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC); if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(2) whether he requested the President of the Republic, Mr M C Ramaphosa, to establish a commission of inquiry, as recommended by the Ntsebeza report, which refers to the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry under either section 84(2)(f) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, or the Commissions Act, Act 8 of 1947, to investigate the extent of, and rationale behind, the political interference with the NPA during the period 2003 until 2017; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether the alleged political interference with the NPA, referred to in the Rodrigues judgment and the Ntsebeza report, has been referred to the SA Police Service (SAPS) and/or the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) for investigation, in order for a determination to be made under section 41(1) of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Act, Act 32 of 1998; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) whether, if the alleged political interference in the decision to prosecute TRC cases had not been referred to the SAPS and/or DPCI for investigation, the NPA has been able to determine if there has been a violation of sections 32(1)(b) read together with 41(1) of the NPA Act; if not, why not; if so, (a) has there been a decision to prosecute and (b) what are the relevant details? NW991E
1. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) did not fail to prosecute cases emanating from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). In fact, a total of nine Priority Crimes Litigation Unit (PCLU) prosecutions were noted between 2003 and 2017. An additional six seminal TRC cases were subsequently enrolled by the NPA.
2. The decision to appoint Adv Ntsebeza, Senior Counsel was taken by the NPA ...
What total number of case dockets presented for criminal prosecution from 1 June 2019 to date have (a) not been enrolled (b) been struck off the roll (c) had charges withdrawn (d) prosecution stopped and (e) section 174 applications brought and succeeded due to the (i) inefficiencies of the members of the SA Police Service (SAPS), which includes, but is not limited to dockets not in court, lost or stolen dockets, investigations being incomplete, forensic reports outstanding, accused not brought to court and witnesses not subpoenaed, (ii) mishandling of the case by the members of the SAPS, (iii) contamination of evidence and (iv) incompetence?
Case dockets presented for criminal prosecution to the National Prosecuting Authority are screened before enrolment. In accordance with the Directives in Part 4 of the NPA Policy Directives, a case must only be placed on the roll if there is evidence under oath or affirmation that establishes the elements of an offence and links the identified suspect to it. The National Prosecuting Authority does ...
What (a) are the reasons for the delay in gazetting the Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners, (b) steps has he taken to (i) expedite the gazetting process and (ii) ensure its timely implementation and (c) measures have been put in place to mitigate the effects of the delay on the transformation of the legal profession?
The Code of Conduct for Legal Practitioners referred to by the Honorable Member has been published by the Legal Practice Council on the 29 March 2019 (Government Gazette No 42364 of 29 March 2019) and is available on the website (www.lpc.org.za) of the Legal Practice Council.
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(1)With reference to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) investigation into the breach of procurement processes for personal protective equipment (PPE) in his department, what (a) additional oversight mechanisms are being considered and/or implemented to strengthen his department’s procurement processes and (b) measures has his department put in place to ensure transparency, fairness and competitiveness in future procurement processes;
(2) What is the current status of the recovery efforts for the funds lost due to the unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure identified by the SIU in its investigation into the non-compliance with procurement processes for the PPE;
(3) What steps has his department taken to (a) address the systemic issues that allowed such a significant breach of procurement policies and (b) prevent a recurrence of such events?
(1)(a) Department of Correctional Services (DCS) developed a departmental control committee to ensure that procurement to the value of R1 million is approved by the committee. The terms of reference are to ensure daily oversight on procurement transactions, with focus on procurement wherein bidding processes are not followed.
(1)(b) DCS reports all procurement processes through National Treasury and furthermore the procurement manual including delegation ...
