South Africa ready to expunge dagga criminal records

By Jan De Lange / City Press

Thousands of people with convictions for dagga possession could soon have their criminal records expunged.

This comes in the wake of last year’s Constitutional Court ruling, in which the court found that the ban on the use and possession of dagga in private was unconstitutional.

Government is now considering all legislative options to expunge the criminal records of people who never appeared in court but paid admission of guilt fines for the possession of dagga, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said on Friday.

Lamola was answering a question from Advocate Elphus Mulaudzi, the EFF’s spokesperson on justice, about the 1 041 prisoners currently serving sentences for possession of dagga, and the thousands of people who have criminal records.

Lamola said everyone would have to apply to have such a sentence or criminal record set aside.

Our law makes no provision for a general amnesty or for the scrapping of criminal convictions, Lamola said in a written reply to Mulaudzi’s parliamentary question on Friday.