I’ve been vindicated – ‘Cabbage Bandit’, as curbside vegetable garden case withdrawn
“So there’s no case against me and there will be no court case against me.”
The self-proclaimed “Cabbage Bandit” Joe Nkuna, says he was vindicated when charges against him were withdrawn last week over his controversial curbside garden.
“The case against the cabbage bandit has been withdrawn unconditionally and unreservedly by the deputy director for municipal prosecutions,” he told Rekord during an interview outside his Theresapark, north of Pretoria, home.
“So there’s no case against me and there will be no court case against me.”
Nkuna said this was after he and his legal team submitted representations on September 28.
In these representations, he said he argued the following points:
– He had broken no law as there was no law which prevented anyone from planting grass, cabbages, or anything else, outside their yards;
– What happened to him was malicious abuse of power; and
– The by-law he was charged for infringing did not have anything to do with planting anything
“The prosecutors have completely agreed with us, which was not a surprise,” Nkuna said.
While the self-proclaimed bandit could now breathe a sigh of relief, he said the experience had not only been traumatic for him, but his family as well.
“This thing has created trauma and anxiety for my family, especially my wife. She never believed that something like this would become a firestorm and so many armed officers would be dispatched on a case that was not really even a case,” Nkuna said, referring to the time Tshwane metro police arrived at his home in several official vehicles to serve his summons.
On his social media account, he said the row over his curbside garden was “an unfortunate event that left a deep traumatic impact on myself and my family – physically, emotionally and spiritually”.
“The relentless show of undue force by the TMPD [Tshwane metro police department] and the fervent attempt to vilify me in the media all took their toll on us,” he wrote.
Nkuna also said that he would not pursue legal action against any of the parties involved.
“I could sue, raise a massive dust storm and get paid, but that is not me. I hope that lessons were learned from this saga by all the parties,” he said, adding that he hoped the TMPD and Tshwane metro would adopt a new approach where citizens were approached cordially and humanely “in the spirit of batho pele”.
“I hope there is a rethink and a new way of how we harness public urban spaces to fight hunger,” Nkhuna said.
He extended gratitude to all those who had shown him support.
Nkuna first made headlines in September when he was issued a fine for his curbside vegetable garden.
The vegetables from the curbside garden were said to feed less fortunate families and vagrants in the area.
At the time, TMPD charged him for infringing the Road Traffic Act, Act 96 of 1996 which was said not to allow for a sidewalk to be obstructed and was punishable with a fine ranging between R150 and R1 500.
Nkuna was fined R1 500.
The TMPD had yet to comment at the time of publication.
Read original story on rekord.co.za
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