ID'S PATRICIA DE LILLE SHOCKED OVER JUSTICE DELAYED AT SOUTH GAUTENG HIGH COURT
In an answer to a question for written response from ID President Patricia de Lille, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Jeff Radebe has confirmed that a total of 281 cases in the South Gauteng High Court have been unable to go to appeal as a result of problems with transcripts.
Moreover, the Minister says that,
"An audit of 54 cases out of the 281 cases revealed that the average waiting period since the date of lodging leave to appeal by applicants/prisoners in respect of the cases, is ± 2 years."
The full question and answer are directly below.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO.: 05
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 25 FEBRUARY 2010
Mrs P de Lille (ID) to ask the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development:
1. Whether any cases at the South Gauteng High Court are unable to go to appeal as a result of the transcripts or information of the trial being (a) lost, (b) inaudible or (c) inaccessible; if so, (i) how many cases and (ii) what is the range of crimes;
2. whether this loss, inaudibility or inaccessibility of transcripts or information has been a result of a certain company, LOM Business Solutions not being able to access them as a result of (a) the department not handing over the audio tapes for transcription, (b) the previous contractor not handing over some of the material for which it was responsible and (c) the previous contractor and the said company, LOM Business Solutions having incompatible machinery; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;
3. whether there are any back-up tapes of the missing transcripts; if not, why not; if so,
4. whether the tapes are in the correct format for the said company, LOM Business Solutions; if not,
5. whether he is taking any steps including the provision of funding to convert the tapes to the right format and ensure that the right to a fair trial is not jeopardised by such administrative problems; if not, why not; if so, how long will it take to convert the tapes?
REPLY:
Yes, a number of cases could not proceed on appeal due to inaccessible transcripts.
(1) (i) 281 cases. An audit of 54 cases out of the 281 cases revealed that the average waiting period since the date of lodging leave to appeal by applicants / prisoners in respect of the cases, is ± 2 years.
(ii) The tapes in question relate to various serious criminal offences within the jurisdiction of the High Court. i.e Murder, Rape and robbery.
(2) The Department handed over the said tapes to the current service provider for transcription. However, the Department was informed by the service provider that they do not possess the necessary technology to transcribe the tapes. An external service provider has been contracted for conversion of the said tapes to DVD and has commenced with the conversion in January 2010.
(3) Back-up tapes containing audio recording for the period 1999-2006 are available.
(4) The said tapes are not in the correct format as required by the service provider. The conversion of the tapes is currently in progress and will address the incompatibility challenge. It is anticipated that the conversion process will be completed by the end of March 2010 by the appointed service provider.
(5) The Department has provided funding for the conversion of the tapes and the service provider commenced with the conversion during January 2010. During a meeting that was held with the service provider on 11 February 2010, it was reported that eighty seven (87) of the hundred (100) tapes were converted to DVD's. An index of the converted cases as contained in the DVD's will make it possible for the Department to identify cases referred to in response 1(i).
Statement issued by Independent Democrats President, Patricia de Lille, March 3 2010
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