DA wants justice cluster ministers to account for rising crime in the country

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has demanded that the Justice, Correctional Services, Police, and State Security ministers account for what the party says are their departments' joint failures in curbing the rise of crime and impunity in the country.

The party also wants the ministers to present a combined plan to save the South African criminal justice system by the end of this month.

DA Justice Spokesperson, Glynnis Breytenbach, said that an example of this impunity is the hit on the prime suspect in the Murray murders investigation on Wednesday, and said that this is not an isolated incident.

News24 reported on Thursday that the key suspect in the murders of Cloete and Thomas Murray almost two years ago was killed outside the Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg.

"Daily assassinations, a captured police service, a prosecuting authority in disarray, and the rise of a mafia state are all the byproducts of a criminal justice system in tatters. This comes as no surprise, as the ANC has spent decades destroying the rule of law in South Africa to protect its cadres."

She called on the ministers in the cluster to act urgently.

"Should these ministers fail to come up with a tangible action plan by 31 October, the DA will write to the president and urge him to address these ministers' inaction in protecting the criminal justice system.