S.A. Bill Waives Jury Trial Right

Press, Volume C, Issue 29511, 12 May 1961, Page 13

S.A. Bill Waives Jury Trial Right

(N .2 P.AKeuler—CoDyrtgM)

CAPE TOWN, May 10.

The General Law Amendment Bill which gives the South African Government extra powers to deal with people it considers troublemakers was read a second time in the House of Assembly today. Opposition amendments were rejected by 88 votes to 42.

The bill contains powers to detain arrested persons for up to 12 days without bail. It allows the Minister of Justice to refuse trial by jury in certain cases.

The measure was introduced by the Minister of Justice, Mr Erasmus. It will give wider powers for the maintenance of public order by amending the Criminal Procedure Act, the Riotous Assemblies Act, and the Arms and Ammunition Act.

Under the bill’s provisions, the Minister of Justice will be empowered to refuse trial by jury in cases of arson and murder. The AttorneyGeneral will be able to detain arrested persons without bail for a maximum period of 12 days. The provision will run until June 1 next year. It can be renewed by Parliamentary resolution for periods not exceeding 12 months at a time.

Under the Riotous Assemblies Act, it is an offence to convene or address a prohibited meeting or to print publish or spread notices of such meetings The bill extends this provision also to persons who encourage or promote such meetings by means of threats or <vho adveriise such meetings. Mr Erasmus told Parliament that the new law abolishing trial by jury in certain cases of murder and arson would be used only in "very special circumstance® ” An examnle would be the recent trials in Pondoland where a large number of tribesmen were accused of crimes during the territory’s emergency.

In such cases, where i large number of accuset

were involved, it was for all practical purposes impossible to find juries to hear them. Pondoland was barred to reporters during the emergency, and few details of what happened have leaked out

One of Mr Erasmus's critics was Mr T. G. Hughes, who represents the Transkeian Territories, which include Pondoland. He said the Government' was making more and more inroads into the accepted rules of law. The bill merely] carried on the process of! obliging the public to accustom themselves to accept further restrictions. Mr Erasmus retorted that he had expected Mr Hughes to welcome the bill, not attack it. Mr Hughes knew very well that to try and find juries of whites to hear such cases as the Pondoland trials would be looking for trouble. The Leader of the Opposition (Sir de Villiers Graaf) said the clause doing away with juries for murder and arson cases if the Minister so wished was indefensible. As he saw it the Minister was trying to do away with trials by jury under the cloak of what he feared might happen to South Africa. It had always been a sound principle that the individual should have the right to oe tried by his own peers—people of his own standing and experience of life.