DURBAN - A fracas at the detectives’ offices at the Middelburg police station over the use of a fax machine - during which a senior officer got angry when a captain used the fax while on suspension - is due to cost the taxpayer dearly.
This incident came a day after Captain Sipho Vilakazi complained to a newspaper about “the racist management” at the police station.
He said he was assaulted for no reason by a white officer - only identified as Lieutenant-Colonel Scheepers - and two fellow officers. He was cuffed with old handcuffs for which there were no keys, on a charge of trespassing.
Vilakazi had to wait four hours before someone managed to get the cuffs off him. He was never charged.
Vilakazi claimed R3million in damages in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, from the minister of police.
He told the court that although he was suspended in 2009, he went to his office each day as he fought his suspension, which was later lifted.
On the day of the incident, he had asked the secretary whether he could use the fax machine to fax documents to the Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union (Popcru) as he was a shop steward. He obtained permission and went ahead until Scheepers entered the office and asked what he was doing.
Vilakazi answered that he was faxing labour union documents.
Scheepers told him he was not allowed to use the fax machine as he was on suspension.
Vilakazi, in turn, said that as he was a shop steward, he could fax from anywhere in the building.
He said Scheepers was extremely angry and pulled him away from the fax machine. Vilakazi tried to defend himself and a fight ensued. He claimed he fell to the ground and Scheepers kicked him several times in the face.
The secretary ran to summon help, and two other officers ran into the office. Vilakazi said they held him while Scheepers kept beating him.
He said he lost consciousness. Scheepers went to fetch an old pair of handcuffs and cuffed him. He was told he was being charged for trespassing, but nothing came of the charges.
Scheepers said he did confront Vilakazi about sending faxes, as he was on suspension. He claimed he simply went to the fax machine to see whether Vilakazi recorded the fax he was sending in the fax register.
He claimed Vilakazi attacked him when he placed his hand on the latter’s shoulder to arrest him for trespassing.
Acting Judge E van der Schyff said there were two versions, but he chose Vilakazi’s version as being more plausible. He pointed out that the defence’s version, as stated to the court during the opening address of the advocate, differed from what Scheepers and his witnesses testified.
The judge said the evidence supported the fact that Scheepers was the aggressor who grabbed the documents from Vilakazi and tried to pull him away from the fax machine.
“Although I accept that the plaintiff’s defiant attitude angered Colonel Scheepers, his physical interference gave rise to the altercation between the two.”
The judge concluded that the minister was liable to pay the damages that Vilakazi suffered.