Merchant Shipping Act, 1951 (Act No. 57 of 1951)

Chapter IX : Offences, Penal Provisions and Legal Procedure

341. Conveyance of accused persons and witnesses to the Republic
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(1)Whenever any complaint is made to any consular representative of the Republic or of any other treaty country—
(a)that any offence against property or person has been committed at any place, either ashore or afloat, outside any treaty country by any master or seafarer who at the time when the offence was committed, or within three months before that time, was employed in any South African ship; or
(b)that any offence on the high seas has been committed by any master or seafarer belonging to any South African ship,

that consular representative may inquire into the case and may, if in his or her opinion reasonable grounds of suspicion exist against the alleged offender, take any steps in his or her power for the purpose of placing the master or seafarer under the necessary restraint and of sending him or her as soon as practicable in safe custody to the Republic.

[Section 341(1) substituted by section 23 of Act No. 12 of 2015]

 

(2)The consular representative may order the master of any ship registered in and bound to the Republic to receive and afford a passage and subsistence during the voyage to any such alleged offender as aforesaid and also to any persons who in the opinion of the consular representative are material witnesses to the offence. The master shall comply with any such order. The consular representative may endorse upon the agreement with the crew such particulars with respect to any alleged offenders or witnesses sent in the ship as he considers advisable.

 

(3)The master of a ship to whose charge an alleged offender has been so committed shall, on his ship's arrival in the Republic hand the alleged offender over to a member of the police who shall take him to a police station or charge office. The alleged offender shall thereafter be detained until a warrant is obtained for his further detention upon a charge of an offence or until he is released by reason that no charge is to be brought against him, and unless so released he shall as soon as possible be brought before a judicial officer upon a charge of an offence: Provided that he shall not be so detained for a longer period than forty-eight hours unless a warrant for his further detention is obtained.

 

(4)The expense of imprisoning any such alleged offender and of conveying him and the witnesses to a port in the Republic in any manner other than in the ship to which they respectively belong, shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament for that purpose.