Ten years of the South African prevention of organised crime act (1999–2009)

Abstract

Organised crime2 is one of the main challenges that governments and intergovernmental organisations3 are grappling with. Its history, consequences and different forms in South Africa are well documented4 and fall outside the scope of this paper. On 21 January 1999, the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA)5 came into force. Its preamble recognises, inter alia, that ‘the South African common law and statutory law fail to deal effectively with organised crime, money laundering and criminal gang activities, and also fail to keep pace with international measures aimed at dealing effectively with organised crime, money laundering and criminal gang activities’. The Act has now been in force for ten years and it is time to take stock of how the South African courts have shaped its application. One of the purposes of POCA is to make sure that ‘no person should benefi t from the fruits of unlawful activities...’6 It is on that basis that the Supreme Court of Appeal has held that ‘[o]ne should not lose sight of the fact that the purpose of the Act [POCA] is to divest criminals of the proceeds of their criminal activity and to prevent them from deriving benefi t from such proceeds’