How to lay a criminal charge against someone

Anyone can lay a criminal charge at any police station. You do not have to be the victim, you do not need an appointment, and you do not need a lawyer. The police must open a docket and give you a case number. That case number is the thread you follow for everything that comes afterwards.

What happens next is not up to you. Once the docket exists, the decision to prosecute belongs to the National Prosecuting Authority under the National Prosecuting Authority Act 32 of 1998. A complainant can ask for a charge to be withdrawn but cannot withdraw it in the way people expect. See can charges be withdrawn if the complainant changes their mind.

The procedure sits in the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977, and the rights of everyone involved sit in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. In an emergency phone SAPS on 10111. For gender based violence, the GBV Command Centre is on 0800 428 428 and is open at all hours.

How to lay a charge, step by step

1. Go to a police station. Any station will do, although the station in the area where the incident happened is usually the most practical. Say clearly at the counter that you want to open a criminal case.

2. Give your statement. A police officer takes down what happened in a written statement. Take your time. This is the foundation document of the entire case.

3. Read the statement before you sign. Every line. If something is wrong, missing or in the wrong order, say so before you sign, not afterwards. If it is in a language you struggle with, ask for it to be read back to you.

4. Hand over your evidence. Photographs, messages, medical records, receipts, damaged items. Ask for a written acknowledgement of anything you hand in.

5. Get your case number. A docket is opened and a case number, often called a CAS number, is issued. Write it down at the counter. Do not leave without it.

6. Get the investigating officer's details. A name and a working phone number. This is the person you will actually deal with.

7. Follow up. Phone the investigating officer, note the date of every call and what you were told. A polite paper trail is the most effective thing a complainant can do.

8. The docket goes to the prosecutor. The National Prosecuting Authority decides whether to prosecute, what to charge, and whether the evidence supports a case.

A worked example

The names and facts here are illustrative only and are not a real case.

Zanele's phone is taken from her outside a shop. She goes to a police station the same afternoon. At the counter she says she wants to open a criminal case, and an officer takes her statement.

While the statement is being typed, she remembers a detail about what the person was wearing. She says so immediately, and it goes in. She then reads the whole statement, spots that the time is written as an hour later than it happened, and asks for it to be corrected. It is corrected before she signs.

She hands in a screenshot of her phone's serial number and a photograph of the receipt, and asks for a note confirming that she handed them over. She leaves with her case number written on a slip and the investigating officer's name and cell number.

Two weeks later nothing has happened. Zanele phones the investigating officer, notes the date and what she was told, and phones again a fortnight after that. When she eventually needs to escalate, she has a record.

The details that made the difference were free and took ten minutes: correcting the time, insisting on the case number, and writing down every call.

What to do in the first 48 hours

1. If anyone is in danger, phone 10111 first. The charge can be laid afterwards.
2. Get medical attention if you were hurt, and ask for the injuries to be recorded. Where an assault or a sexual offence is involved, the medical examination is often the strongest evidence in the case.
3. Photograph everything now. Injuries, damage, the scene. Injuries change within days.
4. Save the digital trail. Messages, call logs, emails, social media posts. Screenshot them and back them up somewhere else.
5. Write your own account down while it is fresh, with dates, times and names.
6. List witnesses with full names and working phone numbers.
7. Go to a police station and open the case.
8. Get the case number and the investigating officer's details before you leave.
9. If there is domestic violence, ask about a protection order too. The Domestic Violence Act 116 of 1998 provides a protection order process that runs separately from a criminal charge, and you may need both. See how to apply for a protection order.
10. Do not confront the person you are laying the charge against.

Documents to gather

• Your identity document
• Your own written account, dated
• Photographs of injuries, damage or the scene
• Medical records, and the medical form completed after an examination where there was an assault or a sexual offence
• Screenshots of messages, emails and social media posts, with dates visible
• Receipts, invoices, serial numbers, warranty documents or proof of ownership for anything stolen or damaged
• Bank statements or proof of payment where money is involved
• Names, addresses and phone numbers of witnesses
• Any previous case numbers involving the same person
• A copy of any existing protection order

Take originals and copies. Never hand over your only copy of anything without a written acknowledgement.

A realistic timeline

Day one. You open the case, give a statement, and get a case number.

The first weeks. The investigating officer gathers statements and evidence. This is when following up matters most.

When the docket is ready. It goes to the prosecutor, who decides whether to prosecute. That decision can take time and it is not made by the police.

If a prosecution follows. The accused is charged and appears in court, bail is dealt with, and postponements follow. See what happens at your first court appearance and how a criminal trial works.

As a complainant. You may be subpoenaed as a witness, which means you are legally required to attend. Do not ignore a subpoena.

If nothing happens. Escalate. Ask the station commander, ask the prosecutor's office, and keep your record of calls. Nobody can promise you an outcome, but a documented complaint is far harder to ignore.

Common mistakes and what they cost

Signing a statement you have not read. It is used against your own case later when the details do not match. This is the most expensive ten minutes people save.

Leaving without a case number. Without it you have nothing to follow up on and no proof you were there.

Waiting. Injuries heal, footage is overwritten, messages get deleted, and witnesses become unreachable.

Handing over originals with no acknowledgement. Ask for a note listing what you handed in.

Exaggerating or inventing detail. A complainant who lies in a statement can be charged. It also destroys the credibility of the parts that were true.

Expecting to control the case. The decision to prosecute belongs to the National Prosecuting Authority. You are a witness, not the driver.

Confronting the other person. It can escalate the danger and it can generate a counter charge.

Assuming a protection order and a criminal charge are the same thing. They are different processes with different outcomes.

Never following up. Dockets that nobody asks about are the ones that go quiet.

Your rights and the state's powers, side by side

You have the right to lay a charge at any police station, to have a docket opened and a case number issued, to have your statement taken and read back to you before you sign, to be assisted in a language you understand, to be treated with dignity, to ask for the details of the investigating officer, to enquire about progress, to be told whether a decision has been taken to prosecute, and to complain about how you were treated. Everyone involved, including the person you are accusing, keeps the rights in section 35 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, which includes the presumption of innocence.

The state may investigate as it sees fit, arrest with or without a warrant depending on the circumstances, decide what to charge, decline to prosecute where the evidence does not support a case, withdraw a charge, and subpoena you to give evidence. The state may not refuse to open a docket when you report an offence, and it may not treat your charge as proof of guilt. If a police officer refuses to take your statement or treats you badly, ask for the station commander and then take it further.

If you cannot afford an attorney

Laying a charge is free and you do not need a lawyer to do it. You may still want advice.

Legal Aid South Africa on 0800 110 110 operates under the Legal Aid South Africa Act 39 of 2014, subject to a means test based on your income and household circumstances. Its main criminal work is representing accused people, but it can point you in the right direction. See Legal Aid.

University law clinics give free advice to complainants and can help with a protection order application. Phone the law faculty of your nearest university.

The Independent Police Investigative Directorate deals with police misconduct, including an assault by a police officer or a refusal to do their duty properly. That is the route if the problem is the police themselves.

The clerk of the court can explain the protection order process, which is free to apply for.

For private fees, see what a criminal matter costs.

If violence is in play, keep SAPS on 10111 and the GBV Command Centre on 0800 428 428 to hand.

Frequently asked questions

The question asked most often is whether you can lay a charge at any police station, and the answer is yes. The second is whether you can drop the charge later, and the answer is that you can ask, but the decision belongs to the National Prosecuting Authority. People ask whether there is a deadline, and the practical answer is that you should report as soon as you can, because evidence disappears with time. They ask whether they can lay a charge on somebody else's behalf, and generally yes, although your statement can only cover what you personally know. They ask what happens if the police refuse to open a case, and the answer is to ask for the station commander and then escalate, including to the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.