Monday, 25 April 2006
The South African Communist Party (SACP) is deeply disturbed by the outcome of the Vereniging regional court dry clean murder trial.
This outcome deserves to be condemned by all South Africans. Much as we respect the rule of law, it is however disturbing that there is a continuing tendency of either light sentences or dropping of charges on matters relating to the murder of black workers in this country. This in essence reinforces the reality that much as we have made a lot of progress in our country, lives of black workers are still cheap.
We are also concerned that the police seem not to have done their work properly as well as the National Prosecuting Authority.
The fact that the NPA appointed senior state prosecutor Christo Roberts, said on 7 February 2006 that the state has no case and therefore he did not oppose bail was quite disconcerting.
The SACP is not impressed by the manner in which cases where poor people and the workers are involved are treated in a cavalier fashion.
We therefore call upon government and relevant institutions to urgently assign very senior people to this case, speed up the investigation and bring perpetrators to book. Failure to do this runs the danger of negatively affecting the confidence of the workers and the poor of our country in our criminal justice system.
Contact:
Malesela Maleka
SACP Spokesperson
Tel: 011 339 3621
Fax: 011 339 4244
Mobile: 082 226 1802
Email: malesela@sacp.org.za