The Constitution and Accountability Mechanisms of the Prosecution Service in South Africa

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The Constitution and Accountability Mechanisms of the Prosecution Service in South Africa.

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 1996, created a sole National Prosecution Authority called the NPA, which is controlled by the National Prosecuting Authority Act (Act No. 32 of 1998). Section 179(2) of the Constitution provides that the NPA has the power to institute criminal proceedings on behalf of the State, to carry out any necessary functions incidental to institution of criminal proceedings and to discontinue criminal proceedings.

Parliament passed the National Prosecution Authority Act of 1998 in order to give effect to the provision of s179 of the Constitution. This is evident in the case of National Director of Public Prosecutions v Zuma. This case, the weight was given in the main interpretation of section 179 of the Constitution. The SCA held that this section did not require that the NDPP had to invite Mr Zuma to make representations as to why he should not be prosecuted before charging him, and to provide him with a full explanation why previously, it was decided not to prosecute was not followed.

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This assignment will deal with the composition or the structure of the prosecution service called the NPA. Hereafter, it will give emphasis on the obligation of the NPA to be accountable for its functions, take accountability for them. It will also address the people which can constitutionally hold the NPA liable if it is not performing duties assigned for it. Lastly in this assignment I will give recommendations on how to deal with the problems the NPA is experiencing.

It is necessary to write about the NPA, because it is a very important establishment, if the NPAs functions and responsibilities are no...

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...re the recommendations on how to improve the performance of the South African criminal justice system.

> To improve the manner in which the system is achieved,

>To place larger energy into crime expectation,

>To take a bigger combined understanding on how to extent success in fighting crime,

>To teach the government bodies about the importance of criminal justice system,

> To remove all corrupt members in a justice system and

> To place hard punishments on members of criminal justice system who are misbehaving, such as to not allow them to work at any public sector.

With the help of the competent members of the National Prosecution Authority we can fight injustice, corruption and inequality, and build a better criminal justice system which is independent, corrupt-free and does not favour any person regardless of his or her position in the legal system.

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