The Democratic Alliance has officially asked Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Brigitte Mabandla to release a two-year-old report on compensation for crime victims.
DA spokesperson Dianne Kohler-Barnard has also promised to invoke the Access to Information Act should Mabandla fail to comply.
The report was submitted by the South African Law Reform Commission (SALRC) in March 2004, and is believed to propose several substantial legislative changes with regard to victims of crime.
On Thursday, Kohler-Barnard said she had on several occasions contacted the Department of Justice to obtain a copy of the report, but on each occasion it had refused to comply.
”If the minister formally refuses to provide a copy of the report, I will invoke the Promotion of Access to Information Act — which requires that any information held by the state, and which does not affect national security, be made available to the public — to gain access to the report,” she said.
The report apparently recommended, among other things, that an ”Office for Victims of Crime” be established, either in the Department of Justice or in the structures of the National Director of Public Prosecutions.
It further proposed a permanent body — a victims’ council — be established to advise government, and a fund for victims of crime be established to help them access the justice system.
Kohler-Barnard said it was unclear why Mabandla had not acted on the report’s recommendations, or referred it to the National Assembly’s Justice Committee for debate.
”The fact that she has kept the report under wraps for this long suggests that either she stands opposed to its recommendations, or she simply wants to suppress its critical evaluation of government’s performance in this regard.”
In a letter to Mabandla requesting the report, Kohler-Barnard said the SARLC was not a political body and its recommendations and findings would have been based on an entirely objective analysis of the current situation in South Africa.
”If the conclusions it reached are not to government’s liking, that does not mean they should not be debated by the Portfolio Committee or, indeed, the National Assembly.
”Nothing is to be gained by suppressing the report or its findings; nor is it in the interest of victims of crime that the recommendations made in the report be ignored.
”I would like to urge you to table the report before the committee and allow Parliament the chance to evaluate its findings and recommendations,” she said. — Sapa