SAPS docket access after state stops prosecution

I am a layman off the street.

My late wife and I were falsely charged in a criminal case where the investigating officer fabricated details, such as fingerprint details and database codes in the docket. Many other serious criminal acts took place. The state refused to continue prosecution when facts were placed before the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).

We successfully obtained a malicious prosecution against the state in the High Court.

As an elderly person who lost my wife to COVID-19 three years ago, I made a promise to her on her death bed that I would make sure all the state officials involved in this abuse of power would be brought before the courts to answer for their criminal unjust abuse of power.

The South African Police Service (SAPS) Limpopo refuse to give me a copy of the docket, which is needed to prove the crimes committed. The head of SAPS legal division in Limpopo even wrote and said I can report the matter to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (IPID).  I did and the head of the IPID has failed to comply with an access to information requests from October last year, even admitting in an e-mail copied to me and to the relevant IPID officials that the response is long overdue.

I delivered proof of forgery by a Deputy Director and Senior Public Prosecutor of the NPA to Deputy National Director and he stands by the findings of the NPA’s legal department that there is nothing wrong with a NPA senior official forging documents, which was done during the course of the High Court malicious prosecution case. We won the original having been lodged with the High Court some years before as a discovery but the NPA attempted to alter evidence in our case.

I have googled many sources but fail to get a straight answer as to my constitutional right to get the original docket. The SAPS has no reason to withhold as the matter was withdrawn and we proved malicious prosecution. They are protecting people who have abused their power of the state, and it is questionable as to why these acts were done in the first place costing the state 13 years of legal costs.

Please try assist. I have tried numerous attorneys but get no positive response.

I even approached the High Court registrar but I can only get a date in March 2024 to make an application personally to force the SAPS to give me a copy of the docket.

If I may add the Provincial Commander of Limpopo SAPS refused for years to open any cases I wish to lay even though the NPA Limpopo Director spoke to the head of detective’s and said there were positive grounds to open a docket after she heard my complaints and was shown proof during a personal meeting.

Carl Neethling

National Prosecuting Authority response

Kindly note that the complaint by Mr Neethling was thoroughly canvassed by different components within the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) and a decision was taken that no disciplinary action ought to be taken against any of the implicated officials within the NPA on charges of misconduct laid by Mr Neethling. Various components concluded that there was no evidence of unethical conduct that would warrant disciplinary action against any prosecutor who dealt with the matter during the criminal proceedings and/or subsequent thereto. The NPA regards the matter as finalised.

Special Director of Public Prosecutions, Mthunzi Mhaga

Monitoring regulations within the legal profession

There is a problem in terms of how law graduates enter the profession, and if nothing is done, this profession will lose the respect and relevance it deserves. With the current state of affairs, some graduates already feel like they are stepsons and daughters, while for others, the ground is fertile, and life goes on as normal.

If someone who has never been to university can end up in Parliament and become the official law maker, why do you have to discriminate against a candidate who managed to obtain a degree from a university and deny the candidate an opportunity to serve articles of clerkship with the 60% requirements? This is the worst form of gatekeeping, disguised as a ‘recruitment criteria’.

I do not understand why graduates in the same profession who have all passed the same degree can be treated differently. It is not as if they write different board exams. Maybe we must regulate it from the university level that if a law student did not achieve the 60% average marks, he or she must not be allowed to serve articles anywhere in the country. In that way the candidate will not have any expectations.

The unbecoming behaviour of discriminating against law graduates – when it comes to opportunities – cannot be left unchallenged.

Previously, people were discriminated against based on how they look and now they are being discriminated against based on the marks obtained at university, even though the playing fields are still uneven.

If you grew up from a poor background in this country to achieve normal success you must be a genius and if you are raised from a family that can afford the basic needs, you do not even have to be intelligent to succeed.

As we speak, even when government institutions are advertising for opportunities to serve articles of clerkship, they always state that candidates must have passed with an average of at least 60%. I do not have a problem with the requirements, but I do have a problem if a student is allowed to pass and graduate with less than a 60% average and then be victimised after graduation where he or she will be disqualified from applying for an opportunity that requires a law degree.

This is another form of unjustified discrimination, which must be tackled, or the system must be clear and regulated accordingly. If the objective is to set high standards let it be regulated and we all know that if you could not get an average of 60%, you are not allowed to serve articles anywhere in this country like they are doing in the accounting profession.

Anyway, most of the time when you are in court you find that most candidates who are excelling have mastered how to be streetwise, which has got nothing to do with high marks.

Law graduates are being abused and that kind of abuse cannot be left unabated.

A concerned law student.

This article was first published in De Rebus in 2024 (November) DR 4.