Judgment reserved in Norma Gigaba urgent application
Norma claimed to have suffered psychological trauma from the arrest. She alleged that the arrest happened after she had threatened legal action against the Hawks after they had seized the devices.
Judgment in the case against Norma Gigaba, wife of former cabinet minister Malusi Gigaba, has been reserved by the Pretoria high court.
Norma brought an urgent application contesting her arrest by the Hawks in connection with her arrest for malicious damage to property and crimen injuria.
Norma was arrested by the Hawks for allegedly causing damage to a friend of Malusi’s car.
After hearing arguments on Thursday, Judge Cassim Sardiwalla reserved judgment.
Norma’s lawyers advocate Dali Mpofu and Tembeka Ngcukaitobi argued that her arrest in July, for allegedly damaging the car of her husband’s friend Peterson Siyaya, involved “rogue” elements and was an “abuse of power”.
They submitted that Norma’s arrest was a case of her husband Malusi, exercising his political muscle in the law enforcement agency to “punish” her.
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“The warrant of arrest by the police was nothing but a piece of fraud. Firstly, the laws of jurisdiction were flouted as Hawks officers from Mpumalanga (Captain Kenneth Mavuso) arrested Norma. It needs to be clear that officers cannot wake up and cross provincial borders and arrest someone. It is unconstitutional.”
Mpofu went on to bash the arrest, saying that it did not fall under the Hawks’ mandate, being a domestic matter … a “petty crime”, contrary to the Hawks’ mandate to investigate priority crimes.
He said that the only person allowed by law to extend investigative powers based on national interest on “misfit” cases, was the head of Hawks and not the task team involved.
On the breach of constitutional rights to privacy, the lawyers argued that the Hawks had attained Norma’s personal electronic gadgets (two laptops and two cell phones) prior to her arrest through “intimidation” and went on to delete information from these.
Information retrieved from Norma’s devices was said to be contained in six discs and was still in the hands of the Hawks.
Norma claimed to have suffered psychological trauma from the arrest. She alleged that the arrest happened after she had threatened legal action against the Hawks after they had seized the devices.
On behalf of the Hawks, advocate Dawie Joubert argued the case fell on the lap of the investigative body as they were tasked with investigating a case of conspiracy to murder Malusi.
On the dispute that there was no evidential link between the two, Joubert told the court that the Hawks had to investigate to determine whether there was no link.
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Joubert argued that the warrant for Norma’s arrest was lawful and was issued by a magistrate and that Norma also admitted to the charges pressed against her.
Joubert said Mpumalanga Hawks were involved in a Pretoria case because they investigated national crimes and had the right to probe the matter.
Joubert stressed throughout his argument that there was no urgency in Norma’s case and that if there was, “then everyone who is arrested may run to court to contest the constitutionality of their arrest”.
Wise4Africa civil rights organisation advocate Mpati Qofa Webakeng argued that the arrest of Norma was nothing but a powerful influence on the state’s agency by her husband Malusi.
Wise4Africa has been admitted as a friend of the court.
“Mr Gigaba extended his power and position of political influence to make sure that his wife can feel the wipe,” said Webakeng.
On Monday morning, the state’s malicious damage to property case against Norma was postponed to 23 October, following her appearance in the Pretoria magistrate’s court.
She was arrested by the Hawks in July, and spent one night at the Brooklyn police station in the east of Pretoria after a warrant of arrest was issued.
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