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A powerful statement stands before the world.

Civil forfeiture is not OK and the Prevention of Organized Crime Act is unconstitutional.

I have spoken to almost every person who has signed the register of petitions and I express my deep gratitude to all who have shown their courage to come forward and support the recovery of my home and also I say thank you to those who have included me in their prayers.

A survey that canvasses a pool of 8 000 people is considered by market research companies to be extensive and is deemed to be relatively accurate in terms of how the general public think. A one question market research survey from a pool of 8 000 people would cost between R20 000 and R75 000.

8 000 people have signed this petition and one can comment that it is biased because it does not reveal how many people support civil forfeiture but their numbers are indeed few and of the people that I have spoken to, they number less than three for every one thousand people contacted (0,3%). Even if we add Willie Hofmeyr's entire staff of the Asset Forfeiture Unit and the16 civil court judges who ruled against me then the number of people who agree that my home be forfeited is still insignificant in terms of public opinion.

We live in a constitutional democracy and the right to express ourselves is a supreme right and it gladdens me to see that when people have the time then they do engage and if this petition is anything to go by then yes, our democracy is working and even though we may not be free to do everything, at least we are free to say what we want.

One person argued that even if I had been found "not guilty" then that did not confirm that I am innocent and in the quantum field of possibilities we can all agree with him but we must also admit that, in South Africa, when we are accused of criminal conduct then supreme non-derogable  law dictates that we are "presumed innocent" until proven otherwise and therefore, in the context of South Africa, it follows that if you have been acquitted of criminal wrongdoing (ipso facto) in a criminal court of law then you are therefore undeniably innocent and so it goes without saying that civil forfeiture in the face of a "not guilty" verdict is unconstitutional.

Every page of the register of petitions was headed with a brief history:

Collecting the signatures was time consuming but public support was freely forthcoming once people were made to see that the Prevention of Organized Crime Act has been used by the state to attack an innocent person. 

The state has used this law to attack me but at the same time and with shameless disregard the state has also attacked my family and when children are made homeless under the disguise of crime prevention then any such action coming from the state is as unforgivable as the enforcement of the laws of apartheid. 

To see them click the signatures 

email your comments to: simon@simonprophet.com. 

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© 2008 Simon Prophet.