South Africans convicted for breaking Covid-19 rules could have criminal records scrapped

Parliament has passed the Judicial Matters Amendment Bill, paving the way for the expungement of criminal records for those convicted and sentenced for breaching Covid-19 lockdown regulations.

This is after the Bill was finalised and adopted by the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Constitutional Matters earlier this month.

Thousands were arrested for breaking curfew rules, not wearing a mask, consuming alcohol and visiting the beach or parks between March 2020 and January 2021 as it was prohibited under the Disaster Management Act.

However, if the new regulation becomes law then such criminal records will become a thing of the past.

The draft legislation was introduced by Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola in March.

‘Sinister motives’

On Wednesday, Justice Committee chairperson and ANC MP, Bulelani Magwanishe said the expungement would be automatic for a convicted person who paid an admission of guilt fines should the bill become law.

“It proposes the minister may declare certain category of offences do not result in a previous conviction against the accused and provides an expungement of offences committed in terms of the Disaster Management Act,” Magwanishe said in the National Assembly.

However, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Veronica Mente cautioned against the drafting of legislation which dealt on “a whole range of issues”.

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Mente said, though the EFF noted some areas that the party welcomed they could not support the bill as whole.

“The prosecutions and persecutions that came about as a result of the regulations flowing from the Disaster Management Act during Covid demonstrated the depth into which our judiciary system could be used to severely limit the rights of individuals. May the law never again be used in pursuit of sinister motives such as what happened during Covid,” she said.

“We are, (however) unable (to offer) our full support for the bill as we think some of the issues needed to be engaged more thoroughly. We reject the bill,” Mente added.

Al Jama-ah leader Ganief Hendricks shared similar sentiments.

“There needs to be more scrutiny and that’s why we won’t support this bill,” Hendricks said.

Watch the plenary below:

The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) supported the bill, highlighting how the criminal records may have affected some people’s chances of finding employment.

“May we never again have such irrational regulations which were passed without parliamentary intervention or oversight,” ACDP MP Steven Swart said.

The bill was passed after it also received support from the African National Congress (ANC), the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

It will now be sent the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) for concurrence before it is signed into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

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