THOUSANDS OF PRISONERS COULD
BE FREED
Thousands of South African prisoners convicted
of serious crimes including murder, could soon be freed
due to bureaucratic bungling.
At least 400 serious offenders in Gauteng
alone are trying to appeal against their sentences through
lawyers of Legal Aid SA, and it is believed that if all
prisoners in the country are taken into account, thousands
of serious offenders are in the same boat.
In order for the appeal court to hear
these appeals, or even rule on an application for leave
to appeal, they need the transcripts of the trial.
These transcripts have either been lost
by the Department of Justice, or they are said to be ‘inaccessible.’
It appears that the company that won the
most recent tender for transcription services, LOM Business
Solutions, has been unable to access, technically as well
as physically, cases captured by the previous contractor.
But Obakeng Masenamela, the managing director
of LOM, denied that his company was culpable. He conceded
that his company could not supply certain transcripts,
but said the cause was twofold.
"First, the Department of Justice
has been unable to give us the necessary audio tapes -
so obviously we cannot transcribe them," said Masenamela.
"Second," he continued, "the
previous contractor has failed to hand over certain material
for which it was responsible and/or in some cases our
machines and theirs are not compatible."
Be that as it may, unless these transcripts
are made available, the prisoners will be freed because
their constitutional right to appeal against their sentences
had been infringed.
As usual the Department of Justice’s
response is the typical playing for time and frankly we
don’t give a shit response we have come to expect
from most South African government departments.
Louis Hanekom, the acting director of
court operations for the Department of Justice, said the
department could only respond to "allegations"
if it was given full particulars about each of the missing
transcripts.
Kader Khan
Editor
info@yummie.co.za
