Deputy Minister of Justice, John Jeffery, has warned that arrested looters will face the full might of the law, following unrest that was marked by looting and lawbreaking.
At least 1 000 suspects were expected to appear in various courts on Monday, as the country starts to pick up the pieces of nearly a whole week of mass looting and civil unrest.
Jeffery has visited courts and the department’s office in the Durban metro, to assess the impact the widespread unrest had on the justice system.
Courts experiencing a high number of suspects relating to looting and violence:
Like other government services, the courts were affected by the risk to people’s security and the lack of public transport.
Jeffery met with members of the judiciary, prosecutors, and Legal Aid Representatives to see what assistance they need.
He has outlined some of the charges faced by the detained looters.
“It’s all kinds of crimes arising from the looting, so it would be arson, it would be breaking and entering, the issue of stolen property, would be the possession of stolen property or receiving stolen property. Those are all crimes obviously there would be more serious cases of instigating the violence which is rarely the case. We want to get to in particular in this area there are murders so there would be murder cases coming to the court.”
Destruction to infrastructure and businesses have run into billions in KwaZulu-Natal.
Cost of damage caused by looting in KZN: Sifiso Skenjana
