Pretoria North boasts ‘enhanced’ commercial crimes court
"The rise in incidents of Covid-19 corruption meant that we are increasing the capacity of existing commercial crime courts."
The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development has “enhanced” its specialised commercial crimes court in Pretoria North to bolster its efforts to fight Covid corruption.
It also established two more specialised commercial crimes courts in Mthatha and East London in the Eastern Cape.
These courts are in line with a commitment made by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the National Council of Provinces when he responded to questions about Covid-19 corruption.
“The rise in incidents of Covid-19 corruption meant that we are fast-tracking the establishment of additional courts and also increasing the capacity of existing ones,” said Ramaphosa.
Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola said such specialised courts have been established in provinces where they did not exist before, such as Limpopo, Mpumalanga, Northern Cape and North West.
Lamola oversaw a project plan that provided for a two-phased approach in doing this.
“The first phase entailed the establishment of new courts in the provinces where there were none. This was scheduled for implementation during the 2020/2021 financial year.”
The second phase, which entailed the enhancement of existing courts in all other provinces, kicked off in April 2021.
“All provinces in the Republic now have dedicated specialised commercial crimes courts.”
ALSO READ: Flood victims plead with government to do away with corrupt officials
Lamola said much success had also been derived from the existing specialised commercial crimes court model.
This allowed for close integration of the work between prosecutors and investigators and dedicated courts which could.
He said to date, the specialised commercial crimes court clusters achieved an overall 92% conviction rate for all cases finalised with a verdict.
“When one looks at the number of matters heard and the conviction rate to date, it is clear that specialised commercial crimes courts are crucial in ensuring that complex commercial crimes such as corruption and white-collar crimes are prosecuted effectively.”
Do you have more information about the story?
Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.
For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East
For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram
