Director of Public Prosecutions shares insight on division’s performance

In an endeavor to account the public what the National Prosecuting
Authority (NPA) is doing in the Eastern Cape, to solve and prevent crime,
Eastern Cape Director of Public Prosecutions, Barry Madolo and the management
team updated the community of the Eastern Cape, on the performance and new
developments aimed at improving efficiency.

He said the Division had been
re-aligned under the five clusters of Gqeberha, Buffalo City, Komani,
Butterworth and Mthatha so that offices are closer to their clusters, to make
justice more accessible to the people by reducing travel and inconvenience.

“This Division is planning to increase its capacity as the office serves
eight districts due to the demarcation process. Bisho will also be incorporating
the East London and Komani areas, taking many district courts away from
Makhanda. A much smaller Makhanda office would be required.

“There is a shortage
of Deputy Directors of Public Prosecutions (DDPP) in the region, with only one
in Gqeberha, one in Makhanda and none in Bisho,” said Madolo.

He added that
filling these vacancies is a priority for the region, and recommendations for
appointments have been made to the Minister for approval.

Madolo said the
organized crime component of the division needs to be increased as Mthatha and
Gqeberha are plagued by organized crime and gang-related offences.

“In the
interim, the general prosecutions stream would assist with these matters. There
has been progress in some of the TRC matters, and decisions will be made
shortly.

“Before diving into the performance, I took over the task of overseeing
the whole of Eastern Cape, thus correcting the anomaly of having two DPPs in
one province.”

According to him these changes were coupled with the realignment
of some district’s courts.

He said Maluti and Matatiele have now been moved to
the Eastern Cape, from KwaZulu-Natal. Madolo added that Districts such as
Nqanqarhu, Khowa, Barkley East and Ugie have been moved to the Mthatha and
Butterworth clusters, while Sterkspruit and Zibeleni are now under the Komani
cluster.

“All these realignments aim to improve service delivery because the
affected districts are closer to the clusters. In terms of performance, the
Eastern Cape Division as a whole has consistently exceeded its targets. But
that does not mean there is no room for improvement, as crime keeps on
spiraling. One such crime of GBV and femicide, the Division has achieved over
93% conviction rate. The achievement is born of a conscious decision, to have
portfolio heads, for each of the priority crimes such as Organized Crime,
Serious Complex Commercial Crimes (SCCU), Environmental matters, Child Justice,
Gender-Based Violence, Organized Stock theft, Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) and
Tax matters,” he said.

Madolo added that to strengthen the capacity of
the division, and to ensure that criminals do not enjoy the benefits of crime,
a fully-fledged AFU office has been established in Mthatha, in addition to the
two in Gqeberha and East London.

ISSUED BY NPA