Prosecutors finalise 63k cases in nine months

This was revealed by the province’s public prosecutions director Advocate Moipone Noko on Thursday. Noko said that she believed that the organisation was well on its way to achieving the targets it had set itself for the 2015/16 financial year.

Noko, who is the Director of Prosecutions in KwaZulu, revealed that prosecutors in the province had managed to finalise some 63,400 cases in the nine months from April 2015 to December 2015 and verdicts were handed down in 43,976 of those cases.

Releasing a host of statistics, Noko also revealed that the NPA had achieved conviction rates during the same period, ranging from 68.5 percent through to 100 percent, depending on the crime.

Copper thieves and those trying to commit tax fraud found themselves on the short end as prosecutors obtained a 100 percent conviction rate in the nine months.

For other cases that were brought to court, the conviction rates were lower, but according to Noko, in most instances higher than the target that had been set.

In the province’s high courts, a conviction rate of 91 percent was obtained while in the regional courts conviction rates dropped to 78.7 percent. In KwaZulu-Natal’s district courts, there was a conviction rate of 95.7 percent.

In sexual crimes there was a 68.5 percent conviction rate.

Noko said that there were still some areas that needed to be addressed and highlighted taxi violence and hostel violence as areas of concern.