Who and what is AfriForum?

AfriForum is an Afrikaans civil rights organisation that protects the rights of minority groups at national as well as provincial level, and anyone who can identify with AfriForum’s principles and objectives may join the organisation. AfriForum’s community plan focuses on mobilising communities to thus take control of their own streets and neighbourhoods again. AfriForum ensures that your constitutional and civil rights are recognised and protected at national level.

Wie en wat is AfriForum?

AfriForum is ’n Afrikaanse burgerregteorganisasie wat die regte van minderheidsgroepe op sowel nasionale as provinsiale vlak beskerm, en enigiemand wat met AfriForum se beginsels en doelstellings kan identifiseer, mag by die organisasie aansluit. AfriForum se gemeenskapsplan fokus daarop om gemeenskappe te mobiliseer om só weer beheer terug te neem oor hul eie strate en woonbuurtes. AfriForum verseker dat jou grondwetlike én burgerregte op nasionale vlak erken en beskerm word.

Media statements | Private prosecution Media statements

Trial of armed forces officer who “spread” HIV postponed for the fourth time after lawyer failed to show up

ByAfriForum 15/02/202215/02/2022

The trial of the accused on a charge of attempted murder after he allegedly infected the victim with HIV while knowing he was infected and withheld and denied this fact, was today postponed for trial for the fourth time in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court to 3 March 2022. The trial should have started today, but the legal representative of the accused failed to show up, because he was allegedly in a motor vehicle collision this morning. He sent a colleague to court to apply for the postponement.

AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has a watching brief in this case on behalf of the victim and her family. Both the accused and the plaintiff were members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) when the alleged offence was committed.

According to Natasha Venter, Advisor at AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit, it is unfortunate that the case had to be postponed today, once again due to the fault of the accused’s legal team. “The alleged crime took place in 2017 already, which means that the complainant has now been waiting for justice for five years.”

The case has already been postponed on three previous occasions because of the accused’s legal team – on the previous occasion the defence attorney was apparently unwell, but he has still not provided the court with a medical certificate to prove this. However, the court ruled today that this is the final postponement in this matter and that the trial would proceed on 3 March even if the accused had to manage his own defence. The attorney must also provide evidence of the collision and his subsequent medical examinations to court on this date.

“The court’s ruling is a step in the right direction, because we are of the opinion that firm action is needed from our courts to prevent the unreasonable delays in criminal cases. One of the biggest motives of the unreasonable delays of criminal cases is to frustrate victims to such an extent that prosecutions are abandoned. We therefore also want to compliment the prosecutor from the NPA for fiercely opposing the application for postponement and also for being ready to proceed with the trial today,” says Venter.