Cape Town, June 19: South Africa’s justice system is “clogged” and cannot be relied on to tackle environment crimes, new Environmental Affairs Minister Buyelwa Sonjica said on Thursday.
For this reason, it was planned to re-open the country’s Environment Courts, she told journalists at a media briefing ahead of her department’s budget vote debate in the National Assembly.
“You can’t rely on the justice system. The justice system is clogged; it’s overloaded, and… [environment] crimes are not necessarily the core function of the justice department.”
Currently, courts did not prioritise environmental crimes.
“Even if you apprehend the culprits, they are not necessarily prosecuted because they don’t end up in court. And that’s a serious problem.”
Sonjica said she had written to Justice Minister Jeff Radebe on this matter, and was awaiting a reply.
—Agencies