Johannesburg – A case of assault against former intelligence boss Richard Mdluli was never opened, the Johannesburg High Court heard on Friday, as the head of the Organised Crime Unit of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) in Johannesburg took the stand.
Brigadier Woolganathan Govender who was a station commander at Dawn Park at the time, said that he had no knowledge about a docket of an alleged assault which was opened by Alice Manana in 1998 against Mdluli.
Mdluli was appearing on charges relating to the 1999 kidnapping of the late Oupa Ramogibe‚ who allegedly had an affair with Mdluli's lover, Tshidi Buthelezi.
Mdluli and his co-accused Mthembeni Mthunzi face charges of intimidation, kidnapping, assault with the intent to commit grievous bodily harm and defeating the ends of justice. He said another officer, Joseph Israel, had the docket for two days, and when it was eventually handed to him the docket did not have references to Mdluli. "The docket would never been booked out if it had [Mdluli] there. I would have taken it to the head office for investigation," Govender said.
Ike Motloung, for Mdluli, read a statement into record which was made by Israel claiming that Govender requested the docket from him.
"My branch commander approached me after two days and asked for the docket and told me that because I'm a Constable, I can't investigate a senior officer," the statement read.
"The State wants to believe that Manana did lay a charge at Dawn Park police station and the docket was disposed by Govender to cover for Mdluli," Motloung said.
Govender said that if there was a docket it would have been recorded in the occurrence book even if it was closed. Mdluli denied allegations that he and his co-accused assaulted Buthelezi's friend Manana.
He said he only went to Manana's house to find out about Buthelezi's whereabouts. Earlier, Mdluli told the court that the charges against him had been fabricated. Mdluli and Mthunzi allegedly intimidated, kidnapped and assaulted Ramogibe.
The charges of kidnapping and assault relate to allegations that Mdluli intimidated and assaulted the family and friends of his ex-girlfriend to find out where she had moved to when she got married.
The former intelligence head allegedly tried to find out from the family, which home affairs the couple went to tie the knot and where they were staying. However, in November 2012, an inquest into the killing of Ramogibe cleared Mdluli of any involvement in the murder.
Previously Mdluli denied claims that he had kept two dockets, implicating him in an attempted murder and a kidnapping case, locked in a safe.
The charges were withdrawn and later reinstated. Ramogibe allegedly received death threats after marrying Mdluli's ex-lover and was told to leave her or he would be killed. He opened an attempted murder case before his death.
At the time, Mdluli was the station commander at the Vosloorus police station in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg, and was accused of sabotaging the investigation. The case was postponed to February 6.