Unlawful detention costs Police Minister R 240 000

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Police Minister Bheki Cele once again finds himself having to answer for the reckless behavior of his men and women in blue.

Minister Cele has this time found himself being ordered to pay damages amounting to R 240 000.00 for the wrongful detention that was made in April 2020 during hard Covid-19 lockdown which found almost everyone not only in the country but the world having limited movements on daily basis. During this time, people were required to present a permit if they were found walking on the streets.

The plaintiff, who is also a trader was helping his father run a dealership business in Ntabankulu which they also had a permit for.

Accompanied by his 17 years son on the day of the arrest on April 1st, 2020, the man said he was arrested at a roadblock on because his son was not included in the permit he had.

In the judgement presented by Judge President Zamani Nhlangulela at the High Court in Mthatha, he said that the court heard that the plaintiff bought stock at Kokstad in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) and was due to drop it off at his store in Ntabankulu. Along the road he was stopped twice in different road blocks and was also ordered to present a travelling permit as per procedure which did with no problems.

Upon arrival at his home he noticed that his son had symptoms of flu which at the time people were advised that should they come across such, they had to seek medical attention as soon as possible to check if it is not Covid-19 which claimed millions of lives across the globe.

He called their family doctor who advised him to rather go to him so he can perform medical procedure and see if it is anything to worry about or not. But he was stopped again at another roadblock, the only problem this time around was that his son was not included in the permit, as a result police officers refused to let him pass even after he had explained his reasons for making the trip.

While seeking alternative plans to take his son to the doctor, he called another traffic officer to seek advice and he said he was told to rather find another route.

Still on the phone call, he said one police officer came behind him, he was assaulted, kicked and pepper sprayed.

He suffered multiple injuries including on the shoulder, was arrested and detained for days. Police claimed that he assaulted one their members, tried taking pictures and interfering with their duties. They also denied assaulting him in court.

Judge President Nhlangulela said the officers representing Minister Cele’s orders failed to support their claims with any evidence whereas he had medical evidence from a doctor of being assaulted. He said failure to have him prosecuted also proved that the officers knew they were wrong in their actions.

Handing down the judgement, he said he found that the plaintiff suffered both physical and psychological from the ordeal.

“I estimate the damages for these injuries in the sum of R 60 000.00. Unlawful arrest and detention for 40 hours with contumelia should be a total of R 120 000.00, in other words separating arrest from detention is not appropriate. The damages for defamation should be R 50 000.00. Fees incurred in the Magistrates’ court may reasonably be fixed at R 10 000.00” said Judge President.