The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will focus increasingly on crimes occasioned by greed rather than those arising out of poverty, National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli said on Tuesday.
”We must not criminalise poverty,” he told reporters in Pretoria.
This does not mean that poor people committing crimes will not be prosecuted — but a person should not spend years in jail for a crime committed out of hunger.
He cited recent protests against poor municipal service delivery, for which some were charged with sedition. After his intervention, the charges were changed to public violence and malicious damage to property.
”We know what gave rise to those protests,” Pikoli said. ”Charges of sedition were inappropriate.”
Pikoli said serious economic crimes have not been receiving sufficient attention, and likened fraud and corruption to a cancer eating away at society.
The NPA’s emphasis will, therefore, be on securing ”effective custodial sentences” for those committing serious economic offences.
A new bias towards the poor will not result in an ”anti-bias” against criminals who are not poor.
The focus on fraud and corruption is the NPA’s way of contributing to economic growth, Pikoli said, as successful prosecution of such crimes will boost foreign and domestic investment.
He said the working of plea bargains and sentencing agreements should be re-examined, as an impression exists that these offer anyone with enough money an easy way out of prison.
The NPA will also be increasingly involved in efforts to foster civic morality through ”public interest litigation”, Pikoli said.
This involves prosecutions aimed at preventing social crimes. Examples include closing down ”dirty” hotels home to prostitution, and dilapidated buildings occupied by poor people in ”conditions giving rise to criminality”.
”We need to be more proactive,” Pikoli said.
Other examples are prosecuting illegal alcohol brewers and boosting child-maintenance court proceedings to help alleviate poverty.
”We need to go beyond traditional prosecutions,” the national director said. ”We need to be rooted within communities.”
He used the opportunity to express irritation at leaks to the media from the NPA, and said an investigation is under way.
Such leaks undermine the integrity of the institution and public confidence in it, and damages the reputation of people identified in the media as being under investigation.
They also encourage members of the NPA to break the law themselves, as it is unlawful to discuss the detail of a criminal case not yet before court.
The NPA has established a hotline for the benefit of whistleblowers, Pikoli said.
On his recent visit to Chile with President Thabo Mbeki, prior to the announcement that the NPA was to charge then deputy president Jacob Zuma with corruption, Pikoli said he did not consult Mbeki on the issue.
”The president was told on the day the announcement was made,” he said. ”Prosecutors take the decisions to prosecute or not to. They don’t have to consult anybody.” — Sapa