The minister of police has again been ordered to pay damages for unlawful conduct by SAPS members — this time nearly R240,000 to two men assaulted by officers and detained without justification. The claim arose from a 2018 incident in Mthatha, where the two men were attacked by police officers who demanded to search a stationary taxi they were in. After attempting to report the assault at the Central police station, they were instead arrested and detained for two days.
They were released only after a senior state prosecutor declined to prosecute. In a judgment handed down in the Mthatha high court, acting judge Aaron Zono ordered the minister to pay them R80,000 each for unlawful arrest and detention, and a further R40,000 each for assault. The men testified that on February 10 2018, while in a stationary Toyota Quantum taxi, police officers approached and demanded to search the vehicle.
Without explanation, they were allegedly pulled out of the taxi and assaulted — punched, kicked and hit with clenched fists — before the police drove off. When the police left, the men took photos of their vehicle’s number plate and proceeded to the Central police station to lay a complaint. There, they were arrested in front of other officers and community members and charged with obstructing the course of justice.
Read Full Article on Daily Dispatch
[paywall]
They were taken to the Mthatha magistrate’s court two days later, on February 12, and held in the court’s holding cells until 4.30pm, when the senior public prosecutor declined to prosecute. In court, the minister of police admitted the arrest had taken place but claimed it was lawful. The minister also denied any assault, arguing the police had acted in response to suspicious behaviour: that the taxi had allegedly swerved near Cicira College and that the men had insulted the officers.
[/paywall]
