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Popular belief is that crimes do not have a prescription period and that you
can be prosecuted for a crime even after many years have passed. In South
Africa, this is not true as Section 18 of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977
determines that the State may not institute criminal proceedings against a
suspect if 20 years have passed from the date that the offence was committed.
This means that if you were involved in a car accident on the 25th of June 1998
and could be guilty of reckless or negligent driving, if the state instituted criminal
proceedings against you on the 27th of June 2018, you could use a special
plea of prescription and the State would be barred from continuing with the
charge against you.
Importantly though, the provisions of section 18 are not an absolute defence
against all charges. The section makes provisions for specific exceptions for
serious crimes which can still be prosecuted at any time after the 20-year period
from date of incident has lapsed. These crimes include for example:

1. Murder
2. Treason commited when the Republic is in a state of war
3. Aggravated robbery
4. Kidnapping
5. Child-stealing
6. Rape or compelled rape
7. Genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
8. Crimes and involvement in human trafficking
9. Trafficking in persons for sexual purposes
10. Using a child or person who is mentally disabled for pornographic purposes
11. Torture

It is important to note that section 18(f) in its current form has been declared
unconstitutional by our Constitutional Court which has expanded the sub-
section to also include all other sexual offences and not just rape or compelled
rape, effectively negating a defence of prescription for any sexual offence.
Section 18 will not however apply if some other period is expressly provided
for by law, for example, if the accused is charged in terms of the Defence Act
44 of 1957 which applies to military personnel and stipulates its own period of
Litigation prescription (e.g.3 years).

It should also be noted that prescription is interrupted by the institution of a
prosecution (when a summons is issued).
What is clear is that prescription does apply in criminal cases, but with limitations
and important exceptions for serious crimes where the demands of justice
dictate that an offender may not escape responsibility merely because of the
passage of time.

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