Ses’khona Sentencing – Suspended Sentence does not Exonerate them from Crimes | Western Cape Government

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Ses’khona Sentencing – Suspended Sentence does not Exonerate them from Crimes

19 August 2015

Statement by Dan Plato, Western Cape Minister of Community Safety

The suspended sentence handed down today to the ANC Provincial Executive Member and Ses’khona leader, Andile Lili, and his fellow eight co-convicted Ses’khona members, does not exonerate them from the crimes they have been found guilty of.

Mr Lili and his co-convicted have been found guilty and the opportunity awarded to them today by the justice system to rehabilitate themselves in the community should be seen as their final warning.

Activism is not synonymous with criminality.

Different options exist to raise grievances and I encourage our communities to engage with Government, and when they choose to do so, to protest peacefully without endangering others, within the boundaries of the law and as the Judge in this case said which does not embarrass the country or violate the dignity of the community.

The organisations that the convicted criminals represent, Ses’khona and the ANC, should distance themselves from their actions and expel them from their ranks to show that the organisations are committed to the rule of law and the rights enshrined in our Constitution.

The simple message must be remembered: crime does not pay. A three year sentence suspended for five years under strict conditions is a serious sentence.

I trust that the law will take its course with the rest of the charges and court cases the habitual rule-breakers still face and that the strict conditions of their sentencing will be upheld by those convicted and their correctional supervisors.

 

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