Civil groups want Zille to act on ‘failures’ of justice system | The New Age Online

Civil groups want Zille to act on ‘failures’ of justice system | The New Age Online

"Civil organisations working in Cape Town townships have asked Premier Helen Zille to institute an independent commission of inquiry into the “continued and systematic failures of the criminal justice system”.

The organisations have criticised the police for failure to investigate criminal cases thoroughly, claiming that investigations were conducted poorly, resulting in criminal cases being taken off the court roll.

Social Justice Coalition, Ndifuna Ukwazi; Equal Education, Treatment Action Campaign, Triangle Project and Women Legal Centre representatives met Zille and community safety MEC Dan Plato recently, and asked Zille to institute an independent commission of inquiry.

This was directly pertaining to “certain failures of the criminal justice system in Khayelitsha”.

The meeting with Zille was in response to a protest of more than 500 people on October 4 who demonstrated outside the provincial parliament where, for the second time, the organisations issued a memorandum of grievances calling for a commission of inquiry to be instituted into the continued failure of the justice system in Khayelitsha, focusing on the conduct of police officers.

The organisations stated that through their work over “many years” they had identified “numerous” problems that prevented the realisation of the residents’ right to justice in Khayelitsha.

“In our collective experience and work, many victims of crime in Khayelitsha and in other working class and poor communities do not have adequate access to justice, a right that is guaranteed by the Constitution and the victims’ charter,” said the organisations.

Zille said she had explained to representatives from the organisations the province only had oversight of the police and that she asked them to submit a formal complaint “as I can only act on receipt of a formal complaint”."