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JOHANNESBURG – Following reports this week that an arrest warrant was to be issued against the secretary general of the African National Congress (ANC), Ace Magashule, there has been some confusion as to which law enforcement body is responsible for this.
Talking to Eyewitness newsMagashule confirmed that he “learned” of an arrest warrant to be signed by a Bloemfontein court in connection with millions of rand spent on the failed Estina dairy farm project that left black farmers destitute during his tenure as Premier of the Free State.
But Magashule revealed that they had not yet formally delivered him.
The Investigations Directorate of the National Prosecutor’s Office (NPA) also did not confirm whether Magashule was being investigated for the matter.
“If we were investigating him or if we were going to arrest him, we would have done it in secret. Why would we advertise it? “Management spokesman Sindisiwe Twala said Eyewitness news.
Twala also refuted claims that the body had sent a query or questions to Magashule.
So who is responsible within our criminal justice system for issuing arrest warrants?
The NPA is responsible for initiating and carrying out criminal proceedings on behalf of the State, while the Directorate for Priority Investigation of Crimes, better known as the Falcons, is responsible for combating, investigating and preventing “crimes of national priority such as organized crime. serious, serious commercial crimes and serious corruption ”.
The Hawks were established as an independent directorate within the South African Police Service in terms of Section 17C of the South African Police Service Act. They replaced the Directorate of Special Operations, the Scorpions, which was dissolved in 2008 by the ruling ANC.
According to a 2019 blog post by constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos, the NPA does not normally investigate criminal offenses.
“Instead, it normally handles the prosecution of people with the aim of obtaining criminal convictions in court. These prosecutions are based on evidence gathered by the South African Police Service (SAPS) or the Hawks (which is independent of, but also formally part of SAPS), ”De Vos said.
“Once an investigation is complete, the file is turned over to the NPA for a decision on whether or not to proceed with the prosecution. Of course, the relevant prosecutor can refer the matter to the SAPS or the Hawks and can order the police investigator to conduct a further investigation to help strengthen the case against the defendant. But there is usually very little that the NPA and its prosecutors can do if the SAPS and the Hawks are unwilling or unable to do their job. “
Simply speaking, as soon as a criminal investigation is complete, he turns himself in to the Hawks for execution.
The information required to search for an arrest warrant would come from the Hawks, who pass it on to the NPA to decide whether to proceed with the matter. If the NPA decides to go ahead, then get a judge to sign an arrest warrant.
In the case of the late former national police commissioner Jackie Selebi in 2007, the NPA needed to request an arrest warrant or search warrant from a court of law first.
Additional information from Tshidi Madia
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