The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has hit back in defence of KwaDukuza police station’s crime convictions, following the Democratic Alliance’s criticism of the local justice system.
NPA spokesperson Natasha Kara said the number of people being convicted of serious crimes in KwaDukuza was fairly positive.
This comes after DA member of parliament Dean Macpherson last year slammed KwaDukuza SAPS for what he called a “dismal performance”.
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The party claimed that according to information from the police minister’s office, KwaDukuza SAPS had a conviction rate of only 1.4 percent for robberies, rape and murder with zero convictions made for hijacking in KwaDukuza.
Shortly after the national crime statistics were released, the DA called on police minister Bheki Cele to address residents on what plans could be put in place to curb crime – but their pleas, petitions and protests went unanswered.
However, Kara said convictions, which are a formal court verdict, were all above 50 percent in KwaDukuza for crimes mentioned by the DA and that criminals were being put behind bars.
“On average there was a 76.6 percent conviction rate for murder, 55.5 percent for sexual offences and 66.6 percent for robbery, burglaries and hijacking combined.
“I suspect that the 1.4 percent might have been based on the statistics of cases opened, but that is not a conviction.”
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Macpherson said the NPA was now playing at semantics.
“They can sue me for wording but the facts remain the same, hardly anyone is arrested in Stanger and if that is the case, hardly anyone can be convicted.
“If six people are arrested and six are convicted, they have a 100 percent conviction rate. Instead of worrying about politics, the NPA should get on with their jobs and start questioning the police for their poor arrests.
“The criminal justice system is broken and if they want to argue or defend that then they are living in a parallel universe. We cannot be fooled by high percentages, show us the actual numbers.”
Kara said that according to their policy, the NPA would not disclose the actual number of criminals who were convicted.
Macpherson added that next week he would be handing over a petition with over 500 signatures to parliament’s police portfolio committee to demand that police minister Bheki Cele explain why he continues to ignore their request for his presence in KwaDukuza.
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