Johannesburg - The success of dedicated World Cup courts could see elements of them incorporated permanently into the court system, the justice ministry said on Tuesday.
"Government will explore a possibility of extracting those elements of success out of the model and use them in the criminal justice system as a permanent feature and not a seasonal one," said ministerial spokesperson Tlali Tlali in a statement.
He said initial "indications" highlighted some of the reasons for the success of the model.  "There is an element of creativity attached to deployment of existing resources."
He said there was a high level of co-ordination amongst all personnel in the court system.
The investigation and prosecution of cases had been well supervised. "Every effort will be made to preserve the success features of this model for continuous and future use."
Tlali said 172 cases had been processed to date, with 223 people appearing as accused before court.
"One-hundred-and-four cases resulted in convictions, translating into 60.4% conviction rate so far."
Twenty-eight cases were withdrawn mainly due to insufficient evidence. Seven cases resulted in acquittals and 33 had yet to be finalised.
"Theft and unlawful selling of FIFA World Cup tickets represent a significant proportion of cases brought before these courts."
Gauteng had processed 78 cases, followed by the Western Cape with 43 cases so far.
No cases had been reported in the Northern Cape to date.
News24-07 July 2010 www.sport24.co.