Kgathi updates Parly on criminal cases, dockets
Kaelo Kebotse | Wednesday June 27, 2018 12:37
Briefing Parliament yesterday Kgathi said that the figure showed a significant drop in the number of cases currently held by the DPP compared to a few years ago where they had 14,000 criminal matters at their disposal.
He also said that in addition to 145 mutual legal assistance and extradition matters are being processed by the DPP.
He stated that there are also 14 restraints and for forfeiture matters under the proceeds and instruments of crime act currently held by the DPP.
He went on saying that out of the 8,173 criminal matters, 5,383 cases are registered before various courts while 2,631 are dockets received from law enforcement agencies, which are currently being assessed for prosecution.
Providing the breakdown analysis by how old the case is, the minister mentioned that the DPP has a performance standard of 18 months average.
He said matters registered in court, which are over 18 months, are considered backlog since the current case disposal turnaround time is 18 months.
Kgathi told Parliament that currently 1,198 cases are within the 18 months turnaround time while 4,185 are over 18 months in age.
“The performance standard for processing dockets is six months and those extending beyond six months are considered backlog,” he said.
Kgathi finalised by saying that the DPP has now established a Backlog Eradication Task Team to fast track the backlog of all matters and that the initiative is a collaborative effort with the Administration of Justice and other stakeholders.
Kgathi was responding to Nkange MP Edwin Batshu, who wanted to know the number of criminal cases held by the DPP for prosecution and the number registered with the courts and how many are not. Batshu also wanted the minister to provide a breakdown by age analysis of cases.