CRIMINAL PROCEDURE AND EVIDENCE ACT
may have been delivered to him in order that some part of the value thereof should be returned
to the party delivering the same or to any other person, and such part has been returned accordingly.
150 Indictments for giving false evidence; and making of conflicting
statements on oath in judicial proceedings
(1) In an indictment, summons or charge in respect of an offence which relates to taking or
administering an oath or affirmation, or to giving false testimony, or to making a false statement on solemn declaration or otherwise, or to procuring the giving of false testimony or the
making of a false statement, it shall not be necessary to set forth the words of the oath or
affirmation or testimony or statement, but it shall be sufficient to set forth the purport thereof
or so much of the purport thereof as is material, nor shall it be necessary to allege in any such
indictment, summons or charge or to prove at the trial that the false testimony or statement was
material to any issue to be tried in the proceedings in connection wherewith it was given or
made, or that it was to the prejudice of any person:
Provided that it shall be a sufficient defence on such trial to prove that the false testimony or
statement was not material to any such issue and was not to the prejudice of any person.
(2) In an indictment, summons or charge which relates to giving false testimony or procuring
or attempting to procure the giving of false testimony, it shall not be necessary to allege the
jurisdiction or state the nature of the authority of the court or tribunal before which or the
officer before whom the false testimony was given or intended or proposed to be given.
(3) Any person who has made any statement on oath, whether orally or in writing, and thereafter on the same or another oath makes another statement, whether orally or in writing, which
is in substantial conflict with any such first-mentioned statement shall be guilty of an offence
and liable to a fine not exceeding level seven or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two
years or to both such fine and such imprisonment.
[Subsection amended by s. 4 of Act No. 22 of 2001.]
(4) It shall not be necessary to allege in any indictment, summons or charge in respect of an
offence in terms of subsection (3) or to establish at the trial which of the conflicting statements
was false or that either statement was material to any issue to be tried in the proceedings in
connection wherewith it was made, but it shall be a sufficient defence on any such trial to
prove—
(a) that the accused when he made each statement believed it to be true; or
(b) that neither statement was material to any such issue as aforesaid; or
(c) that one statement was true and that the other statement, though false, was not material
to any such issue as aforesaid.
(5) Subsections (1) and (2) shall apply to any indictment, summons or charge in respect of
an offence in terms of subsection (3).
151 Rules applicable to particular indictments
(1) In an indictment, summons or charge in respect of an offence relating to a testamentary
instrument, it shall not be necessary to allege that the instrument is the property of any person.
(2) In an indictment, summons or charge in respect of an offence relating to anything fixed in
a square, street or open place, or in a place dedicated to public use or ornament or to any thing
in or taken from a public place or office, it shall not be necessary to allege that the thing in
respect of which the offence was committed is the property of any person.
(3) In an indictment, summons or charge in respect of an offence relating to a document
which is evidence of title to land or an interest in land, the document may be described as being
evidence of the title of the person or some one of the persons having an interest in the land to
which the document relates, the land or some part thereof being described in some manner
sufficient to identify it.
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