South Africa: Pretoria High Court Officials Placed On Precautionary Suspension

Three officials from the Pretoria High Court have been placed on precautionary suspension following allegations of fraud and corruption.

This according to the Office of the Chief Justice (OCJ).

“The three officials, who cannot be named at this time, are suspects in an ongoing investigation by the South African Police Service’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) looking into fraudulent and corrupt activities in the court.

“The OCJ takes a zero-tolerance approach to fraud and corruption and the officials were therefore placed on precautionary suspension to allow investigations to proceed without being compromised,” the OCJ said in a statement.

News of the suspensions come days after Chief Justice Mandisa Maya visited the Mthatha High Court. This after reports that officials at the court are allegedly embroiled in a bribery scheme soliciting payments from advocates to perform tasks already within the ambit of their jobs, including finding files that have seemingly gone missing, transcriptions and allocating dates for trial.

An internal and criminal investigation by the South African Police Service has also been opened in this regard.

At the time, the OCJ said it had received light on the allegations in December 2024.

“Subsequently, the OCJ instituted a forensic investigation in line with the organisation’s Fraud Prevention and Anti-Corruption Policy, whilst working closely with relevant law enforcement agencies.

“Accordingly, the department took a prudent approach to releasing specific details on its ongoing investigation to the media so as not to jeopardise any future legal processes or further investigations that may ensue.

“The OCJ reiterates that it is dependent on all stakeholders in the fight against fraud and corruption, including the media, to act in a manner that safeguards the integrity of the processing of legitimate complaints,” the office said.

By SAnews.gov.za.