Special courts is the way to go
The governing party’s proposal for the establishment of special courts to handle cases of the looting of Covid-19 relief funds is most welcome.
We reported yesterday that the ANC national executive committee had decided “in principle” that the government must come up with courts similar to the ones that were operational during the 2010 World Cup, which would be given a mandate to wrap up the cases within a month.
“The proposal was made and it was accepted that the special courts must deal expeditiously with Covid-19 matters,” an ANC NEC member was quoted saying.
These would also deal with companies who claimed UIF funds on behalf of employees but did not pay their staff, as well as pharmaceutical companies who hiked their prices to profiteer during the pandemic.
We hope the proposal will be implemented as it is a great idea which worked well during the soccer tournament 10 years ago. The state already has the knowhow and personnel who can be seconded to such courts to handle what are deemed priority crimes.
The move would ensure that the cases are handled and concluded faster without the delay that comes with normal court processes. If such matters are left to go through the normal process it would be years before anybody is convicted and sent to jail.
The processes would be quicker than the probes currently underway by the Special Investigating Unity into the theft of funds, as that is bound to be a lengthy process which will see the National Prosecuting Authority only being roped in at a later stage, likely after the SIU has compiled its report and handed it to the presidency, as per procedure.
We reported last week that President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed a proclamation for the SIU to probe the misuse of the funds and he was going to get updates on its progress monthly.
The sooner the Covid-19 funds theft cases are dealt with, and we recover monies that were paid to companies that should have never benefitted, the better.
We still have the coronavirus pandemic to deal with that has killed more than 8,000 already. It is a shame that we have people who saw an opportunity to loot funds that were meant to ease the burden of the virus on citizens.