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National Prosecuting Authority of South Africa (NPA)
Overview
Section 179(1) of the Constitution established a
single NPA, which consists of the National Director
of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), who is the head of
the NPA, the DPP and prosecutors as determined by
an Act of Parliament.
The
NPA structure includes the National Prosecuting Services
(NPS), the Directorate: Special Operations (DSO), the
Witness-Protection Programme (WPP), the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU)
and specialised units such as the Sexual Offences and Community
Affairs (Soca) Unit, the Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU), the Priority Crimes Litigation Unit and the Integrity Management Unit.
In terms of the
NPA Act, 1998 (Act 32 of 1998) [PDF], the DSO is a
distinct and autonomous directorate.
In May 2005, President Mbeki appointed the
Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into the Mandate and
Location of the DSO.
By September 2006, the commission had
completed its report after receiving written and oral
submissions from various parties. Most of its
hearings were held in public.
The commission recommended that the DSO be
retained within the NPA, but that political oversight
and responsibility for the law-enforcement
component of the DSO be conferred on the Minister
of Safety and Security. Prosecutors working for the
DSO would continue to receive instructions from the NDPP, which would remain accountable to the
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development.
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Office of the National Director of Public Prosecution
The Office of the NDPP is the head office of the
NPA. The
prosecuting authority vests in the NDPP and the DPP. This authority has been delegated to other members of the NPA. They have
the power to:
- institute and conduct criminal proceedings on behalf of
the State
- carry out any necessary functions incidental to
instituting and conducting such criminal proceedings
- discontinue criminal proceedings.
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Directorate: Special Operations (DSO)
The DSO pursues its objectives and complies with its
legislative mandate through the application of numerous
legislative tools. In addition to the
NPA Act,
1998 [PDF], other statutes include the
Prevention of Organised Crime Act, 1998 (Act 121 of 1998)
[PDF],
International Co-operation in Criminal Matters Amendment Act,
1996 (Act 75 of 1996), and the
Extradition Amendment Act, 1996 (Act 77 of 1996).
The objective of the DSO is to prioritise, investigate
and prosecute serious
and organised crime that threatens the South
African democracy and economy.
This
includes complex financial crime, syndicated organised
crime and high-level corruption affecting business
integrity and state administration. The core
business of the DSO has been layered by a selection
of investigations, where racketeering, money
laundering and the forfeiture of the proceeds of
crime form the main activities.
The primary client of the DSO is government,
which has a fundamental interest in combating and
suppressing insidious (and apparently victimless)
organised crime.
Equally, complainants from the private
sector and regulatory bodies (for example the South African Revenue Service (Sars), the Financial Services Board and the South African Reserve Bank) base their expectations on
how the DSO deals with financial crimes.
Rare individual complainants form part
of the DSO’s client base, when they
are affected by large-scale money rackets or organised
violence.
The DSO renders services that include the determination,
investigation and prosecution of crime to
restore justice, to enhance public confidence in governance
and to reduce crime through deterrence.
Products are realised through accurate assessments
of crime threats, impact-driven and opportune
investigations, successful prosecutions, confiscation
of contraband, forfeiture of ill-gotten gains
and compensations, where warranted.
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Asset Forfeiture Unit
The AFU was created in 1999 in terms of the
Prevention of Organised Crime Act, 1998 [PDF]. The AFU can
seize and forfeit property that was bought from the proceeds of crime, or
property that has been used to commit a crime.
The AFU has two major strategic objectives, namely to:
- develop the law by taking test cases to court and
creating the legal precedents necessary to allow for the
effective use of the law
- build capacity to ensure that asset forfeiture is used
as widely as possible to make a real impact in the fight
against crime.
The use of asset forfeiture to fight crime has been one of
government's important innovations.
In 2007, the AFU deposited some R120 million in
the special account for fighting crime, with
R77 million paid out in 2006 towards centres for
battered women and to boost the capacity of the
South African Police Service (SAPS), the NPA and
Sars to deal with crime.
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Special Investigating Unit
The SIU is an independent statutory body that is
accountable to Parliament and the President. It was
established to conduct investigations at the
President’s request, and to report to him on the
outcomes thereof. It receives its budget through the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
The SIU was created in terms of the SIU and
Special Tribunals Act, 1996 (Act 74 of 1996) [PDF]. The
SIU was initially headed by former Judge Willem
Heath, who resigned in June 2001 after the
Constitutional Court ruled that a judge could not
head the SIU.
The SIU then formally ceased to exist. A new SIU
was established in July 2001 through a presidential
proclamation.
The SIU functions in a manner similar to a
commission of inquiry, in that the President refers
cases to it by way of a proclamation. It may
investigate any matter set out in Section 2 of the
SIU and Special Tribunals Act, 1996, regarding:
- serious maladministration concerning the affairs of any state institution
- improper or unlawful conduct by employees of any state institution
- unlawful appropriation or expenditure of public money or property
- any unlawful, irregular or unapproved acquisitive
act, transaction, measure or practice that has a bearing on state property
- intentional or negligent loss of public money or damage to public property
- corruption in connection with the affairs of any
state institution
unlawful or improper conduct by any person who has cause to or may cause, serious harm to the interest of the public or any category thereof.
The SIU can also take civil action to correct any
wrongdoing it uncovers during an investigation.
The SIU can, for example, obtain a court order to:
- compel a person to pay back any wrongful benefit received
- cancel contracts when the proper procedures were not followed
- stop transactions or other actions that were not properly authorised.
The SIU conducts civil litigation through the Special
Tribunal, a specialised court that deals specifically
with its cases. This avoids some of the delays
usually associated with civil litigation in the
ordinary civil courts.
The focus of the SIU is the public sector, but it
also deals with private-sector accomplices. It
investigates private-sector matters that cause
substantial harm to the interest of the public.
As the focus of the SIU is on civil litigation, it does
not have the power to arrest or prosecute suspects.
When it uncovers evidence of criminal activity, it
hands a court-ready docket to the
SAPS and/or the
DSO (Scorpions).
The SIU also works closely with the NPS, the core
prosecuting division of the NPA, and other attached
divisions, such as the SCCU in the case of fraud and
other related matters, and the AFU in cases where
the powers of this unit are more suitable for
recovering the proceeds of crime.
Generally, the SIU works closely with other
relevant enforcement agencies, ensuring greater
effectiveness in dealing with corruption cases.
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Sexual Offences and Community Affairs Unit
The Soca Unit was established in September 1999
through a Presidential proclamation and with a
specific mandate that includes:
- formulating policy regarding capacity-building,
sensitising and scientific functional training in
respect of the prosecution of sexual offences and
gender-based violence
- co-ordinating the establishment of special courts
for the adjudication of sexual offences and
gender-based violence
- facilitating and/or formulating research techniques
for the prosecution of sexual offences, gender-based
violence, maintenance and child justice
- developing and implementing community awareness
programmes and plans for the participation
of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in
processes and procedures aimed at preventing
or containing sexual offences
- developing training, plans and mechanisms
regarding the prosecution of sexual offences,
gender-based violence, maintenance and child
justice.
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, together with the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the departments of social development and of health, has established several Thuthuzela care centres for victims of sexual offences.
The Thuthuzela care centres are 24-hour one-stop
service centres where victims have access to
all services that include police, counselling, doctors,
court preparation and prosecutors.
The main objectives
of these centres are to eliminate secondary
victimisation, reduce case cycle time and increase
convictions. Specially trained police investigators, medical
personnel, community volunteers, social workers
and prosecutors work together.
They ensure that the
victim is not further traumatised in the process of
reporting the incident, and that the information
needed to secure a prosecution and conviction is
passed seamlessly from one person to another.
These multipurpose centres render the services of these departments to communities where these services either do not exist, or do exist but are not easily accessible (especially in rural areas). By
June 2007, there were 10 such centres.
Through Project Ndabezitha, Soca successfully
trained 104 traditional leaders from five
provinces on managing domestic violence in rural
areas.
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Sexual offences courts
The fight against sexual offences is a national priority. The department is
providing facilities at courts where child
witnesses, especially in child-abuse cases, can testify in a
friendly and secure environment without the risk of being
intimidated.
New child-witness rooms are fitted with one-way glass
partitions adjacent to the courtrooms. Where it is impossible to
provide such rooms in existing buildings, other rooms away from
the courts are used by providing a closed-circuit television
(CCTV) link.
Intermediaries act as buffers against hostile and potentially protracted cross-examinations of child witnesses in an open court, particularly necessary in cases of sexual victimisation. Most intermediaries are social workers by profession, and fulfil their intermediary functions part-time or as volunteers.
The Draft Criminal Law (Sexual Offences) Amendment Bill aims to provide intermediaries to all vulnerable witnesses in sexual-offence cases, where appropriate.
The Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related
Matters) Amendment Bill [PDF] reached an advanced
stage of promotion in the parliamentary process
during 2006. The Bill aims, among other things, to
comprehensively and extensively review and
amend all aspects of the law relating to sexual
offences, and to deal with all legal aspects of or
relating to sexual offences in a single statute. The
provisions of the Compulsory HIV-Testing of Alleged
Sexual Offenders Bill, 2003 [PDF] were also incorporated
into the Criminal Law (Sexual Offences and Related
Matters) Amendment Bill. These provisions aim to
provide a speedy and uncomplicated mechanism
whereby a victim of a sexual offence can apply to
have the alleged sex offender tested for HIV and
have the test results disclosed to him or her.
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National Prosecutions Service
The NPS performs the core function of the NPA,
namely, instituting criminal proceedings on behalf
of the State, and carrying out any necessary
functions incidental to instituting and conducting
criminal proceedings.
The mission of the NPS is to raise the levels of productivity
in the NPA and make it efficient and credible.
It has to ensure proper planning of court rolls,
prioritisation, proper preparation and arrangement for all cases
to be heard, and the avoidance of unreasonable delays.
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Specialised Commercial Crime Unit
The Pretoria-based Specialised Commercial Crime Unit (SCCU) was
established in 1999 as a pilot project to bring specialisation to the
investigation and prosecution of commercial
crimes emanating from the commercial branches of the SAPS in Pretoria and Johannesburg.
Three new courts and offices were established in the
Johannesburg and Pretoria central business districts for
specialised commercial-crime cases. Similar courts were established during 2004/05 in Durban and Port Elizabeth. The SCCU continues to achieve an above-average conviction rate.
In 2006, the number of offenders sentenced for
economic crimes reached the lowest number in six
years, with a 34% decline to 21% of the total
offender population.
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Witness-Protection Programme
The Office for Witness Protection falls under the auspices of
the NPA. The office is responsible for the protection of
witnesses in terms of the
Witness
Protection Act, 1998 (Act 112 of 1998) [PDF], and its
regulations.
The office aims to:
- combat and reduce crime
- create a culture of civil morality
- enhance public confidence in the office and the
criminal justice system (CJS)
- enhance prosecutions through the evidence of
vulnerable and intimidated witnesses.
It also provides for placing a person related to the
witness under protection at the request of the witness,
prospective witness or a person who has given evidence or is
required to give evidence in criminal proceedings or before a
commission of inquiry.
The programme does not offer incentives such as those offered by the SAPS to witnesses of serious crimes.
Instead, it offers sustenance in the form of a
food allowance; replacement of salary if employment has been
lost; free accommodation, including all municipal services; a
clothing allowance; transport; a housing allowance for
school-going children; medical expenses; etc.
By mid-July 2007, the Witness Protection Unit
(WPU) had completed the review of the draft United
Nations (UN) guidelines on the matter of witness
protection. Officials of the International Criminal Court (ICC) received training in witness-protection
best practices. South Africa assisted Kenya in
establishing a WPU structure following their
introduction of witness-protection law. Cabinet is
considering requests for similar assistance from
other African countries.
Source: South Africa Yearbook 2007/08
Editor: D Burger. Government Communication and Information System
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Last modified: 15 April 2008 13:05:32. |
