DESPITE the many drug-related arrests made by Kempton Park SAPS on a regular basis, this seems where the ball stops.
Putting a suspect behind bars in a police cell, does not mean he will end up in jail according to figures released by the DA.
Michael Waters MP, DA deputy chief whip in the National Assembly and Lethabong Constituency head, said the drug conviction rate in Kempton Park is a dismal 9.7 per cent.
“The Minister, however, claims a rate of 95 per cent,” Waters said.
“A reply to a recent Parliamentary question indicates that less than 10 per cent of the drug-related arrests made at Kempton Park Police Station result in convictions. It contradicts the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Mike Masutha, who claims the conviction rates are well over 90 per cent,” Waters said.
“I will write to the portfolio committee chair on justice to ask him to call the minister before the committee in order to get to the bottom of this issue.”
According to the parliamentary reply there were 371 drug-related cases that went to court from Kempton Park Police Station during the 2016/17 financial year. Of those, however, only 36 (9.7 per cent) resulted in a successful conviction.
“Yet, in a letter from the minister to the chairperson of the justice portfolio committee in parliament, the Minister said, ‘In 2016 there was a conviction rate of 95 per cent with 80 cases resulting in a conviction and four acquittals.’ This was a response to a petition I had handed in to parliament on this issue,” Waters added.
He said a reply to a similar question for the 2015/16 period indicated that 350 drug-related cases went to court from Kempton Park Police Station and only five (1.4 per cent) resulted in a successful conviction.
“Yet again the minister gave the portfolio committee different statistics and stated, ‘in 2015 there was a conviction rate of 95 per cent’. How can it be that the figures in the minister’s letter are so contradictory to that of the reply in parliament?” Waters wanted to know.
“Either the minister is misleading the portfolio committee or parliament is being misled through the information in the replies. I will request that the minister comes to explain this issue to the committee.”
