A presidential pardon is a complete forgiveness and absolution of a serious crime by the government. To pardon a person is to forgive a person for his/her deeds, as if one was never convicted.
According to our constitution the decision to pardon or not can be taken only by the South African president. The pardon process is a long one and can take two years or longer to finalise due to the involvement of various role players.
The pardon process is not available to persons who maintain their innocence and is not an advanced form of appeal procedure. It is an alternative option is for more serious crimes where direct imprisonment was received or a fine exceeding R20,000 was paid.
All pardon applications are naturally preceded but an application for Criminal Record Expungement, which has been denied. On application the Department of Justice will forward a denial letter for the conviction(s) which will require a Presidential Pardon and list reasons why the individual did not qualify for Expungement.
There are numerous reasons why an Expungement application is denied, contact govdocsmadesimple for more information.
