Franny Rabkin
24 June 2009
Johannesburg — THE Consortium for Refugees and Migrants in SA (Cormsa) has questioned the government's commitment to prosecute those responsible for the xenophobic violence in May last year.
The violence left 62 dead, at least 670 wounded, dozens raped and more than 100000 displaced, said Cormsa in a report released last week.
Cormsa says that, by February, only 70 people had been convicted out of 1627 arrested. Out of 469 cases, 105 have been finalised with 70 convictions, while 231 were withdrawn.
The convictions related only to theft and assault and there have been no convictions for rape or murder, "despite the frequency of these violations during the attacks", the report reads.
"Research indicates that many of the groups and individuals who instigated the attacks are still free and on the streets."
In the report, Cormsa chairman, Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh asks: "What kind of message are we sending out as a result of this response from the institutions that are tasked with meting out justice? If the state effects such a low level of retribution, does it mean that this kind of discrimination is acceptable in SA?"
The National Prosecuting Authority's head of communications , Bulelwa Makeke said the cases prosecuted after the xenophobic violence were treated by the courts in the same way as "any other criminal case -- in the sense that if you do not have enough evidence, you cannot take a case to court".
Makeke said that in some instances, witnesses did not come forward or there was simply not enough evidence to prosecute. Some were referred back to the police for more investigation.
"But we did get convictions in some cases, where the cases were court-ready," Makeke said.
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