The High Court of Pretoria has ruled in SALC & Anor v NDPP & Ors that there is an onus on the National Prosecuting Authority and the police to investigate and charge alleged perpetrators of crimes against humanity if they enter South Africa. This case concerns an application for a judicial review of a decision not to institute an investigation into torture committed in Zimbabwe. The application is brought under the Implementation of the Rome Statute Act of the International Criminal Court Act.
The facts of the case involve a raid by the Zimbabwean police under orders from the ruling party on the headquarters of the opposition party, Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). Over one hundred people were taken into custody and tortured over the course of several days. Evidence produced demonstrates that these applicants were tortured on the basis of their affiliation with the MDC.
Judge Fabricus held that South Africa is “obliged to investigate and prosecute international crimes under the Rome Statute and under its own International Criminal Act.” He held further that “I hereby hand down a mandatory order, with costs, which obliges the respondents [the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions and SA Police Service] to investigate the docket before them.”
Nicole Fritz, executive director of the South African Litigation Centre commented “This judgment will send a shiver down the spines of Zimbabwean officials who believed that they would never be held to account for the crimes but now face investigation by the South African authorities.”
This case is a landmark judgment as it “represents the first time that a South African court will have the opportunity to provide guidance on the scope and nature of the obligations placed on South African authorities by signing up to the ICC.”
Click here to see the full judgment.
Click here to see a blog article on the case.