Every person, including Jacob Zuma, must be equal before the law and every person must have the right to a fair trial, opposition leader Helen Zille said on Saturday at a crime imbizo (meeting) in Durban.
”ANC leaders have now vowed that Zuma will walk free, no matter what evidence there is against him,” the Democratic Alliance head said in remarks prepared for delivery. ”They are effectively saying that if you are powerful enough, you are above the law.”
Zille said that over the past 14 years more than 10-million violent crimes, ranging from murder and rape to armed robbery, have been reported to the police.
”More people have been killed in South Africa in the last five years than in the war in Iraq.
”The statistics no longer mean much. They cannot express the pain that is felt by every South African who has lost a loved one to violent crime,” she said.
Zille said the government is not doing enough to help combat crime in the country, adding that the criminal justice system is soft on crime and tough on its victims.
”Behind every statistic are human beings whose lives have been taken away or have been irredeemably changed forever. This is what our government either does not understand or does not want to talk about.”
She said instead of action and compassion, the government prefers inertia and denial.
While the rights of criminals are entrenched, there is nothing in law protecting the rights of the victims, she said.
Charter
A crime charter needs to be established to enforce the rights of victims, Zille said.
”It is often said that when a South African is a victim of crime, they are a victim twice … They are victimised first by violent criminals and then re-victimised by the criminal justice system. This has to change.”
According to the DA, victims of crime need active assistance from the state to recover from their ordeal and move on with their lives.
”They [crime victims] should be entitled to compensation for medical and other costs they are forced to incur,” Zille said. ”There needs to be a legally enforceable victims-of-crime charter that sets out exactly what the rights of victims are and how they will be enforced.”
Zille said such a charter would give citizens the right to be treated with fairness, respect and dignity.
She said no amount of money could undo the damage wreaked by violent crime, but no victim should have to suffer financial loss as a result of it.
”All victims of violent crime should be entitled to compensation for the emotional, psychological and medical trauma they are put through.” — Sapa