A total of 873 cases related to the unrest and looting in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng in July had been enrolled in the courts, justice & correctional services minister Ronald Lamola has revealed.
Most of the cases (256) were enrolled in Durban and its branch courts, 100 in Verulam and its branch courts, 68 in Ixopo, 40 in Empangeni, 34 in Ladysmith, 30 in Pietermaritzburg, 30 in Umzimkhulu and the rest mainly scattered in towns throughout KwaZulu-Natal.
Concern has been raised about the fact that though President Cyril Ramaphosa said the widespread looting and destruction of property was a planned insurrection, none of the alleged masterminds has been charged. The events that have been estimated to have caused damage worth about R50bn saw retail outlets, malls and warehouses stripped bare of their contents and some of them burnt.
The SA Special Risk Association has received claims from insured businesses of more than R30bn and was granted R11bn in the medium-term budget policy statement to enable it to settle them. This was in addition to the R3.9bn it received earlier from the state.
Lamola provided the information about the court enrolments in reply to a question in parliament submitted on August 20 by IFP MP Christian Msimang who wanted to know whether the rights of accused people had been observed in terms of bringing them timeously before court. He also wanted to know whether individuals deprived of their legitimate property during the confiscations of looted goods undertaken by the SAPS had been given access to the courts.
Lamola gave the assurance that the rights of accused people were observed.
“The magistrates in which the civil unrest cases occurred managed to process all matters brought before the court in line with the constitution,” the minister said. He said there was no record of any confiscation of property but if this had been reported to the various police stations appropriate solutions would be found.
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