State's weakest link: Focus on the DPP
Mpho Mokwape | Friday December 25, 2020 12:38
Many of the cases involved allegations among them misuse of office, misuse of public funds, money laundering and corruption giving members of public hope that the government was finally taking charge in dealing with corruption issues.
But instead of upholding public faith in the justice system as it was seen DPP has found the going tough and each case it seemed to be falling deeper and deeper into turmoil and finding itself a lot in the public eye as its effectiveness continues to be scrutinized.
This year alone it has been a difficult one with DPP accused of doing a shoddy work especially with high profile cases that characterized the happenings in the judiciary both last year and this year in particular as many cases folded. The public prosecution has been labeled ‘trigger-happy’ and faced public scrutiny for rushing to Courts to register cases when it did not have enough evidence or had not gathered anything concrete at the time of registering the case. Just early this year in his legal year opening speech Chief Justice, Terrence Rannowane addressed the seemingly weak DPP of the tendency to rush to Court without proper preparation.
He complained that weak prosecution especially by the state law body dent the judiciary and advised that cases should be registered when all investigations were completed.
Chief Justice was of the view that cases especially criminal ones should only be registered when investigations are complete and the prosecution is ready. “Weak prosecution cases frustrate the public expectation when alleged offenders are released on account of inconclusive evidence or cases are withdrawn due to lack of evidence which might be a result of shoddy work during investigations,” he said. Justice Rannowane could be referring to many cases that have appeared in our justice system recently especially high profile ones that many folded this year due to what the public accused the State prosecutors of being trigger happy to register cases while missing crucial information or evidence. Cases involving high profile figures such as the National Petroleum Fund (NPF), former spy chief, Isaac Kgosi, Carter Morupisi, the ‘Butterfly’ case and many others have come before Courts without any investigations being done. The cases especially the NPF one has highlighted the ineffectiveness of the DPP.
Justice Rannowane has not been the only one shaking the table that DPP is sitting on, many judges have held the same sentiments and just recently a magistrate too deciding on the NPF case crashed DPP’s work and called it very weak with unreadable grammar in many of its charges against the accused persons. On top of the many shortcoming experienced by the State prosecutor, it seems their sister body DCEC has been putting them in hot soup.
Some of the affidavits they have used in cases especially the Butterfly case, where many high profile people were pin pointed by the lead investigator Juko Hubona appeared to be fabricated as alleged.
This brought the DPP on its knees as many questioned its ability to scrutinize evidence before using it before the courts. It has left the state in a messy situation as many lawsuits found their way into the doorsteps of the State. It remains to be seen what it would take for the State and its prosecution unit to restore public faith, as at the moment they seemed to be drowning deeper than it was expected.