Johannesburg – Leader of the African Transformation Movement (ATM), Vuyo Zungula, has slammed the country's justice system for its continued granting of bail to undocumented illegal immigrants.
Zungula, who took to social media, said the country's courts are “encouraging and compounding” criminality by granting bail to undeserving criminals who become untraceable after having been granted bail.
"The courts are encouraging and compounding criminality by giving bail to people who are undocumented and have entered our country illegally. Such people can easily skip the country or change locations, and they can't be traced. Victims of crime can't get justice due to the actions of the courts," Zungula said.
Last year, following the murder of Elvis Nyathi in Diepsloot, Justice and Constitutional Development Deputy Minister John Jeffery said there was "legal confusion" in the country's courts on how to deal with illegal immigrants who are arrested and brought before the law.
In 2020, popular Malawian evangelist Prophet Shepard Bushiri and his wife, Mary Bushiri, fled the country while out on bail. The Minister of Home Affairs, Dr Aaron Motsoaledi, was called over to a virtual meeting of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs to answer allegations and suspicions that the Bushiri family had fled with the Malawian presidential delegation.
However, last week, three members of the SAPS, Sello Tsima, Edward Magape, and Massifo Johannes Mangena, were granted bail by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court, while a fourth accused, Congolese national Alain Mbembe, 48, was denied bail.
Tsima and Magape are facing charges of kidnapping, corruption, and defeating the ends of justice, while Mangena and Mbembe are facing charges of kidnapping and corruption in a case that was remanded to February 27 for the State to acquire a report about Mbembe’s legal status from the Department of Home Affairs.
The Star