The National Director of Public Prosecutions Vusi Pikoli told reporters today that the prosecuting authority would focus increasingly on crimes occasioned by greed rather than those arising out of poverty.

"We must not criminalise poverty," he said.

This did not mean that poor people committing crimes would not be prosecuted. But a person should not spend years in jail for a crime committed out of hunger.

He cited recent protests against poor municipal service delivery - for which some were charged with sedition. After his intervention, the charges were changed to public violence and malicious damage to property.

"We know what gave rise to those protests," Pikoli said.

"Charges of sedition were inappropriate." Pikoli said serious economic crimes had not been receiving sufficient attention *1, and likened fraud and corruption to a cancer eating away at society.

The NPA's emphasis would therefore be on securing "effective custodial sentences" for those committing serious economic offences.

A new bias towards the poor would not result in an "anti-bias" against criminals who were not poor.

The focus on fraud and corruption was the NPA's way of contributing to economic growth, Pikoli said, as successful prosecution of such crimes would boost foreign and domestic investment.

He said the working of plea bargains and sentencing agreements should be re-examined, as an impression existed that these offered anyone with enough money an easy way out of prison *2.

The NPA would also be increasingly involved in efforts to foster civic morality through "public interest litigation *3", Pikoli said.

This involved prosecutions aimed at preventing social crimes.

Examples included closing down "dirty" hotels home to prostitution, and dilapidated buildings occupied by poor people in "conditions giving rise to criminality".

"We need to be more proactive *4," Pikoli said.

Other examples included prosecuting illegal alcohol brewers and boosting child maintenance court proceedings in order to help alleviate poverty.

"We need to go beyond traditional prosecutions," the national director said. "We need to be rooted within communities."

He used the opportunity to express irritation at leaks to the media from the NPA, and said an investigation was underway.

Such leaks undermined the integrity of the institution and public confidence in it, as well as damaging the reputation of people identified in the media as being under investigation.

They also encouraged members of the NPA to break the law themselves, as it was unlawful to discuss the detail of a criminal case not yet before court.

The NPA has established a hotline for the benefit of whistleblowers, Pikoli said.

On his recent visit to Chile with President Thabo Mbeki, prior to the announcement that the NPA was to charge then-deputy president Jacob Zuma with corruption, Pikoli said he did not consult Mbeki on the issue.

"The president was told on the day the announcement was made," he said.

"Prosecutors take the decisions to prosecute or not to. They don't have to consult anybody." *5

With acknowledgements to Sapa and Business Day.

*1  A re-equipping of the SANDF is not necessarily inappropriate; however, the 1999 Arms Deal can be categorised as a serious economic crime.

*2  As a result of a plea bargain with the National Prosecuting Authority, which was quite unnecessary considering the available evidence, Mr T.S. Yengeni was convicted on the minor charge of defrauding Pariament rather than the major charge of corruption. Considering that he got three Mercs, the value of the benefit exceeding the then threshold of R500 000 under the Minimum Sentencing Act, Mr Yengeni would have got 15 years in the High Court and not just 4 years in the Spexcialised Crime Court.

But due to all kinds of cocking about by, inter alia, the NPA, Mr Yengeni is still strutting his stuff in public open spaces, as well as at the ANC's recent National Hot Air Indaba in Pretoria and giving Mr Mbeki a hard time to boot.

*3  It must surely be in the public interest to litigate against Thomson-CSF International, Thint Holdings (Southern Africa) (Pty) Ltd, Thint (Pty) Ltd, Alain Thetard, Yann de Jomaron, Jean-Paul Perrier and Pierre Moynot and their primary clandestine Arms Deal information source, Chippy Shaikh.

*4  Indeed, let this serious work begin.

*5  Rubbish: in August 2003 Advocate Gerda Ferreira (who, before resigning in disgust, was intended to be prosecutor in the combined Schabir Shaikh/Thint/Jacob Zuma trial) and her investigation team formally recommended prosecuting Jacob Zuma. She was over-ruled by the National Director of Public Prosecutions. This was partly on the advice of some nameless, faceless "a Senior Counsel" who, accordingly to the NDPP, is "very skilled in these types of matters" and "concurred with our decision".