DPP explains low finalisation rate in Gauteng corruption matters

The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) for the Gauteng Division, Advocate Sibongile Mzinyathi, says the division is facing challenges in finalising corruption cases due to various factors.

Mzinyathi updated the public on the DDP’s overall performance, focusing on tackling priority crimes in Gauteng in the 2023/24 financial year.

While there have been improvements in some cases, corruption matters remain a challenge to finalise.

DPP processes

“We continue to experience challenges in the finalisation rate of corruption matters. These matters require prosecutors with specialised skills and they are often hotly contested by the accused persons in court, which will result in lower finalisation rates,” said Mzinyathi.

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“In most cases, these matters are very complex. In most matters, there will be a need to have expert witnesses in the form of forensic investigators. Those forensic investigators usually have to deal with voluminous documentation in their investigation to ensure that they generate or produce a report that will be fitting to be called before court,” said Mzinyathi.

“This is a process that will sometimes take a whole lot of time. Once that investigation has been done, the matter is not just going to be enrolled. Obviously, the prosecutor will then have to apply his mind on what has been done and that as well, the prosecutor will need some time to do.

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“These are some of the challenges that we are faced with. We cannot hurry the matter for the reason that we need to enrol. We have to make sure that certain issues have been attended to.

“Sometimes matters include evidence that is in a foreign country, sometimes it depends on how soon or late the responses come from that country. We make follow-ups to ensure the response is received as quickly as possible. In most instances, we rely on the country to respond and only then can we take the matter further.”

DPP’s conviction rate

The DPP previously struggled with finalising trio crimes in the province, but this has changed with the cooperation of state prosecutors.

Trio crimes include robbery at non-residential premises, robbery at residential premises and carjacking.

“We have now reported a significantly higher number of cases that have been finalised under the trio crimes indicator,” said Mzinyathi.

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It achieved a conviction rate of 80.5%, which is 103 cases convicted out of 128 cases.

Overall in the province, the DPP managed to achieve convictions in 68 matters out of 74 in the high courts, 1,540 convictions out of 1, 837 cases in the regional courts and 12,640 convictions out of 13,130 cases in the district courts.

Femicide

The DPP achieved a 100% conviction rate in femicide prosecutions in the province, with only 29 cases reported.

“The division has femicide protocol on how to handle femicide matters. All matters are dealt with in the High Court and need to be reported within seven days to the DPP office so that investigations can be guided from the onset by the officers or state advocates from the DPP office,” said Mzinyathi.

However, the picture may look bleak for femicide cases nationally, with the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) revealing last month that femicide investigations are increasingly failing to identify who is killing women.

Its 2020/2021 research study showed that the percentage of femicide cases where investigations failed to identify a perpetrator increased to 44%, up from 30% in 2017.

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In cases where perpetrators were identified between 2009 and 2020/2021, intimate partners were the most common offenders.

In Gauteng, the DPP said it achieved a 97.2% conviction rate in intimate partner murder, with 35 cases convicted out of 36 cases.