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THE SMART NEWS SOURCE | Feb 10 2010 00:49 | LAST UPDATED Feb 10 2010 00:49 |
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South Africa plans to create special courts dedicated to handling crimes committed during the Soccer World Cup, aiming to speed up the judicial process, especially for cases involving foreigners. Government hopes the promise of swift justice will help stamp out crime during the event and ease worries of fans visiting one of the world's most violent countries. "The courts are here to speed the process. There is not going to be any leniency," said justice department spokesperson Tlali Tlali. "We're going to deal with all cases that have to do with the tournament," he said. An average of 50 people die violently every day in South Africa, while 250 000 homes are burgled every year. The justice ministry is concerned that the influx of 450 000 tourists will bring with it a surge in crime. "The experience from previous host countries has shown that the influx of foreign nationals in World Cups also potentially increases criminal activities," the justice ministry said in a statement. "Therefore, special measures do need to be put in place in order to process any criminal matters that may arise from big events such as the Fifa World Cup." If any foreigners are involved in crimes -- either as victims or perpetrators -- their cases will receive priority at the special courts. "The scheme obviously hopes to see justice done to foreigners who are the victims of crime, whilst the foreigners are available in South Africa to give evidence," said lawyer Peter Jordi, a professor at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.  CONTINUES BELOW "This will also act as a disincentive to commit crimes against foreigners," he added. The scheme will cost about R1-million for 54 courts to operate in all nine host cities, 15 hours a day from May 28 to July 25. Judges, lawyers, prosecutors and interpreters, as well as volunteers to help with administrative issues, will also receive special training for the courts. South Africa has already used a similar system during school holidays to allow traffic offenders to settle their cases in just one day. "The South African authorities are obviously aware the crime may be an issue for foreign visitors," Jordi said. "This scheme is another indication that the authorities will be harsh on those who commit crimes during the World Cup." Since President Jacob Zuma took office in May, the government has stepped up efforts to fight crime, with the deputy police minister last week telling police to "shoot the bastards" when dealing with violent criminals. The so-called "shoot-to-kill" policy has sparked intense public debate following the shooting deaths of bystanders, including a three-year-old boy last week. Jordi said the speed of the special courts could also limit the ability to follow up on any such cases of abuse. "Speedy justice can be problematic because accused persons are not given an adequate opportunity to consider how best to defend themselves," he said. - AFP TOPICS IN THIS ARTICLE
Comments
Courts? Why bother with courts? Just shoot the bastards.
Ella Hume on November 21, 2009, 8:55 am
Gosh are these imbeciles trying to create something now - suppose illiterates will man the operation
on November 21, 2009, 12:11 pm
Why can't we have "speedy" justice without "leniency" all the time? This makes me want to vomit. If it is possible to do this, it should have been done long ago.
Piet Opperman on November 21, 2009, 12:59 pm
Exactly Piet. Govt finally realises that the way to stop crime is to have speedy justice. The criminal courts are always clogged up and need to be streamlinend -- permanantly.
This could be done tomorrow morning -- with the stroke of a pen. A huge number of laws which serve no purpose, other than to clog up the courts, need to be scrapped. Our murder conviction rate is only 13%. In Germany the rate is 95% -- because they don't criminalise nearly everything that moves. The result is their courts are not clogged up, thus very few people get away with murder.
Oom Piet on November 21, 2009, 1:39 pm
What utter rubbish!! Governments way of beating around the bush again. Why don't they just admit that we have an out of control crime problem here. Now that 2010 is near, Germans are going to wear bullet proof vests and I don't feel embarrassed at all about that. All the participating countries should have this German outlook on SA. I love it when this government makes fools of themselves. Shameful
Jakes Observing on November 21, 2009, 2:16 pm
H Tlali Tlali
I quote:"This will also act as a disincentive to commit crimes against foreigners," he added.",does this mean these criminals should instead attack locals? Should you not concentrate your efforts on making everybody safe-starting now?
Donald Mathray on November 21, 2009, 3:31 pm
Ha ha ha ha
Well that is a reassurance for me to CONSIDER coming to SA for the world cup – NOT. You have some serious idiots there that come up with this joke. You need to be fixing THE RAMPANT VIOLENT CRIME that South Africa has a very bad international image for. In fact – Jo’burg was rated as THE most violent city in THE WORLD – hell is anybody getting this? What the South African leaders need to get a grasp on IS – ACCOUNTABILITY. That means that if international visitors attend a host country in the name of sport – HELLO FIFA!!! and people get murdered for their cellphone there are going to be some serious legal cases as SOUTH AFRICA is making a statement by offering to ‘HOST’ ( not sure if that is available in Pedi) the sporting event. The FIFA bunch has given their thumps up for security so if foreigners get SLAUGHTERED – WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? South Africa and FIFA are both accountable. Perhaps the WC will not have so much profit at the end of that spreadsheet after some high profile lawyers set sight on the money involved in the WC. Time will tell and CRIME in SA needs solutions not smoke & mirrors.
Andy Campbell on November 21, 2009, 7:19 pm
Why are seperate courts necessary? There weren't seperate courts for any of the other large international sporting events the country has held. Fast tracking investigations will lead to botched prosecutions.
Marius de Kock on November 21, 2009, 10:16 pm
I intend to agree with all the bloggers, especially Marius, we seems to waste time money and effort with the current bureaucracy, why waste money on a “special court”, go and look into the current system, and fix it, simple
No Political Connection on November 23, 2009, 3:46 am
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