SAPS apparently not above the law
SAPS more often prosecuted than the public is aware of.
It seems there are routes to take when law-enforcement agencies act above the law.
A Roodepoort resident (identity protected because she still works in the same industry as before the court case) suffered an humiliating experience at the hands of the SAPS but decided not to leave it at that.
The woman, referred to from here on as Mrs X, was working in an administrative position at a logistics company (a close corporation) that was doing fairly well. At one stage business started tapering and some clients did not receive the service they paid for. Here things started going awry.
Instead of following a civil suit against the company, the unhappy clients opened a criminal case of fraud against her at the Florida Police Station. The woman subsequently was arrested wrongfully three times, but twice the cases were thrown out of court.
According to attorney Sarel Hay of Wynand du Plessis Attorneys, a case was made on behalf of Mrs X against the office of the Minister of Safety and Security on grounds of vicarious liability.
“The complainants obviously pressurised the SAPS and instead of investigating the case and realising that it was a civil case, they arrested the woman. In any case, arrest should be the last avenue,” says Hay.
The attorneys were so sure of her case against the state – they have handled quite a few – that they offered their services on the basis of no fee if they did not win.
“There are laws though that protect the state and they have state attorneys to handle their cases, so they usually protract cases against them unnecessarily,” Hay further explains.
Mrs X won her case against the state and in the Roodepoort Magistrates Court on 12 July the state was ordered to pay damages of R80 000 to Mrs X as well as the attorneys’ fee plus interest.
The problem now is that the state refuses to pay, so in a bizarre and funny twist a courageous sheriff was ordered to take an inventory at the Florida Police Station (R15 000 worth of goods) and at the SAPS’ administrative building in Pretoria (R82 000 worth of goods) of goods to be sold to recover the money that the court had ordered them to pay.
Hay wants to know why the state is taking so long to pay, but laughs when he adds that in the past even SAPS patrol bakkies were put on inventories to be sold.
“Often they wait until the very last moment to pay,” says a self-assured Hay.
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