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The police ministry recently stated that millions had been arrested under Operation Shanela, but convictions were slow to materialise.
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Police across South Africa have been rounding up suspects en masse, but only a fraction of these arrests have resulted in convictions.
Operation Shanela recorded more than 14 200 arrests in the past week, adding to the massive number of suspects detained in the last two years.
However, the police ministry recently revealed that just less than 6% of Operation Shanela arrests have led to convictions.
Operation Shanela in July
Operation Shanela focuses on contact and trio crimes such as murder, rape, robbery and assault, as well as drug and alcohol related crimes.
Between 21 and 27 July, 172 suspects were arrested in connection with murder cases, 138 for attempted murder and 170 for rape.
Additionally, 1 598 were arrested for assault GBH [Grievous Bodily Harm] and 1 376 were arrested for possession of drugs.
Drunk drivers accounted for 672 arrests, while 324 people were arrested for dealing narcotics.
Operation Shanela was launched in May 2023, and the police ministry revealed via a written response to a parliamentary question that 3.68 million cases had been registered since.
However, the number of convictions secured in that time amounted to just 215 233.
The average number of cases opened per day over a 24-month period would be just over 5 000, while the conviction rate is just under 300 per day.
Western Cape led the way with 54 000 convictions, followed by Gauteng with 37 400.
Delayed court processes
Asked for the breakdown based on gender, the ministry stated that performing such an analysis would be “tedious” as it involved the scrutiny of physical dockets held by multiple divisions.
“This exercise will take [a] long [time] to complete; as a result, service delivery might be adversely affected, taking into consideration all types of crimes involved and may result in the disruption [of] service delivery,” the written response read.
The portfolio committee on correctional services last week heard how slow court processes were leading to an overcrowding of prisons.
The committee heard how 57 800 inmates were currently being held while trials were ongoing.
Correctional services officials listed the reasons why court proceedings were regularly postponed for those both remanded and out on bail.
These included repeated changing of legal representatives, the absence of witnesses and co-accused, as well as the loss of court records, among others.
NPA success rates
African Criminal Justice Reform (ACJR) in a previous report for the Dullah Omar Institute outlined how prosecutors approached criminal matters.
“The prosecution anticipates the defence of the accused, and weighs up whether or not the prosecution will be able to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt,” states the report.
“If the chances are not reasonable, the prosecutor may decide not to prosecute.”
In the National Prosecuting Authority’s 2024 annual report, it listed an 84% success rate for murder prosecutions and a 72% success rate for gender-based violence incidents reported to police.
“The very high success rates of cases which are prosecuted… suggest that reasonable prospects are interpreted as being an almost certainty of conviction,” the ACJR report states.
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