Mogoeng laments lack of access to justice

Mogoeng delivered the annual Judiciary report at the Constitutional Court on Friday.

The report revealed that close to 700 prosecuting posts are still vacant at the National Prosecution Authority (NPA).

"Access to justice is haemorrhaging already now, it is going to be worse if we are going to be told that the 665 vacancies  are not filled.

"The truth of the matter is that you need more prosecutors than you have now and whoever comes in a the head of the prosecution authority would have to do something to correct the capacity deficiencies in the NPA," Mogoeng told the media at a briefing following the release of the report.. 

He also said there is a lack of leadership at provincial level.

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"In the past, whoever heads the province would take the lead in court appearance guiding his and her juniors in relation to how best to handle cases. They would be mentored by their leader.

"But then one particular or a series of NDPPs came into office and said 'your responsibility is managerial in nature. You are no longer having to go to court and leave it to your juniors'.

"The result was that the juniors were left without a coach who is hands on, the coach was never there to see how they were performing so that whatever advice they needed could then be given to them. The coach was now reading papers and that is when the decline of the prosecutorial capacity began to manifest. Something fundamental needs to be done there."

Mogoeng has also called for the strengthening" of the NPA's national leadership, as South Africa awaits President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision on a new National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP). 

Allegations surfaced during the interviews for a new head of the NPA that divisions and factions are rife in certain courts in South Africa.

"We have to understand the NDPP is a body independent of the judiciary. They are the prosecutors, they are there. But I can do no more than advocate for their needs to be met, so that the court system does not suffer as a result of their inability to fulfil their roles properly. That if there are factions within the NPA, they don't impact on the judiciary, except to the extent they have the effect of incapacitating the NPA from doing what it is supposed to do. Those factions if they do exist,  then strong leadership is called for," he added.

The NDPP interviews have since concluded.

The advisory panel, chaired by Energy Minister Jeff Radebe, has handed over the list of five candidates to President Cyril Ramaphosa.

President Ramaphosa has until December 19 to make a decision on the next head of the NPA.