Victims of crime to have their say on parole via new audio-visual system

Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Michael Masutha will request a report of the country's high-profile cases that have caused the public to lose confidence in the criminal justice system.

Masutha told reporters in Pretoria yesterday, that his department was concerned with the number of cases where people were arrested for violent crimes and get released without finalisation of their cases. This, he said, cause the public to lose confidence on the ability of the state's machinery to deal with offenders brought before the courts.

“We need to look whether our own prosecututorial machinery is well oiled to deal effectively and efficiently with the task at hand. We are going to identify these cases where we are going to ask for reports from the relevant arms of the criminal justice system, mainly the prosecutorial component. So that we can get an understanding of what their frustrations are, challenges they have identified and equally, suggested solutions to the problem. The thrust that we want to focus the criminal justice system on going forward is one that seeks to restore public confidence to the system. That we can achieve by identifying the weakness in the value chain,” he said.

“We are going to have to engage with the judiciary to look at issue that need to be address to tighten our criminal justice system to ensure as much as possible, that offenders do not easily elude the system in as much as we need to uphold the rights of offenders, Masutha said.

Two weeks ago, charges were against a man accused of being involved in the death of four-year old Taegrin Morris who died when he was dragged along the road during a car hijacking on the East Rand.

This was preceded by the release of Zamokuhle Mbatha, the man accused of murdering Bafana Bafana and Orlando Pirates captain, Senzo Meyiwa, who walked free because there was no enough evident to trial him.

The two cases brought to scrutiny the justice system's ability to process cases brought before the country's courts.

• Masutha was speaking at the launch of a R10-million audio-visual system which has been installed in all 53 parole board centres in the country to facilitate involvement of victims during the parole process.

Currently, of the over 157 000 people under correctional supervision, 51,000 are on parole.

The new system allows the victims or their next-of-kin to be involved in the entire parole process. If the victims do not want to be seen by the parole applicant, the system enables interaction while not showing the victim's face.

“This innovation is intended to eliminate a barrier like long distance for the participation by our communities and the victims in parole hearings. It will reduce the problem costs incurred by the offended and their relatives in traveling in order to participate in the parole process,” Masutha said.

The system, he said, has been successful in Canada, New Zealand and Wales.