- S v Du Plessis, Case number R36/2021, High Court Bloemfontein, 24 June 2021 (FB)

Mr Pieter Daniel du Plessis, the accused, was convicted before a magistrates’ court in the Free State of driving a motor vehicle in excess of the general speed limit in contravention of section 59(4)(a) of the National Road Traffic Act 93 of 1996 (“the NRTA”).

The accused was unrepresented and pleaded guilty. Accordingly, he was sentenced to a fine of R12 000 or two months’ incarceration of which R8000 or one month’s incarceration is conditionally suspended for five years. The provisions of section 35 of the NRTA (suspension of driving licence when convicted of certain specified offences) were NOT invoked.

In terms of section 112(1)(b) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 (which finds application where an unrepresented accused person pleads guilty to any offence), the presiding magistrate questioned the accused. Some of the questions asked, as well as the response of the accused, are the following:..

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[This is only an extract of an article published in Pollex in Servamus: March 2022. If you are interested in reading the rest of the article, send an e-mail to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to find out what you need to do. Ed.]