On the 7th of June 2022, Jaco Swart was convicted of assault with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm against his estranged wife, Nicoleen. The Pretoria North Regional Court sentenced Swart to a paltry R20 000 fine, as well as a three-year prison sentence, suspended for a period of five years.
Swart pleaded guilty to the two counts, which had been captured (in at least one incident) by surveillance CCTV footage of his violent abuse. In the CCTV footage, there is clear evidence of Swart pushing, punching and kicking his wife at his business premises in 2018. It is alleged that other brutal attacks on Nicolene took place in front of their children.
The NPA’s Prosecutor meekly sought to have the surveillance footage admitted, in order to assist in the sentencing of the convicted Jaco Swart. Regrettably, the Court disallowed the presentation of the footage after the defence questioned its authenticity. This was after the prosecutor failed to call the complainant herself to testify, and failed to lead the evidence of a video expert witness (both of whom were available to do so).
Allegedly and according to reports, the prosecutor failed to challenge the defence in this regard at all. If this is true, it points to a case of professional negligence, at best.
On 21 June, we wrote to the Director of Public Prosecutions for the Gauteng: Division: Pretoria, Adv. S. Mzinyathi, to request that the NPA urgently appeals the ridiculous sentence in this case, and to conduct a thorough investigation into the prosecutor’s conduct. ActionSA has received no response thereto.
On 28 June, we escalated the matter to the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP), Shamila Batohi and were met with further silence.
In the build up to Women’s Month, we find that the National Director of Public Prosecutions – a woman herself – has turned a blind eye to this matter. If South Africans who are victims of gender-based violence cannot place any faith in the NPA, who must they turn to for protection?
The Minister of Police has publicly stated (on 3 June 2022) that January, February and March were especially brutal for women and children in South Africa. Murder, attempted murder and assault GBH of women all recorded double-digit increases. Murder and assault GBH of children under the age of 17 also recorded sharp increases.
The first three months of 2022 have been darkened by more murders, more sexual violence and more assaults in comparison to the same period in 2021. Murder has increased by 22,2% in comparison to the same period last year and sexual offences have recorded a 13.7% increase.
In the first three months of 2022, 10 818 people were raped in South Africa.
We do hope that Shamila Batohi has full knowledge of these statistics. These are not merely numbers on a piece of paper: each number represents an actual human being that has fallen victim. The tragic situation in South Africa is frightening, and bold and swift action is the only credible solution.
We call on the NDPP to treat this matter with the seriousness that it deserves; to not stand idly against the scourge of gender-based violence but to take action to fix South Africa.
