Pretoria - Christoff Becker, one of the Waterkloof Four, is suing Justice and Correctional Service Minister Michael Masutha and three other officials for R2.5 million.
“We have issued summons this week for unlawful arrest and detention. I am not sure whether the sheriff has yet served the summons on the minister and the department,” Carel Taute said on Thursday.
It could not be confirmed on Thursday whether the department had received the summons.
According to Taute, the four defendants, which include the chairman of the parole board, have 20 days in which to serve notice on whether they will defend the action.
“It is early days and we will have to wait and see what happens,” Taute said.
The minister and his officials may receive further bad news, as counsel for Frikkie du Preez, Christiaan Sevenster, on Thursday confirmed that they too may institute a claim. “We are definitely considering our position in this regard,” Sevenster said.
Becker’s damages claim is a sequel to his re-arrest in February last year – about five days after the four were released on parole last February.
Becker and Du Preez were whisked back to the Kgosi Mampuru II Prison in Pretoria, following claims that they had violated their parole conditions.
Their parole was revoked and the pair had to spend a further 10 months in prison before a court in December – shortly before Christmas – ordered Becker’s release.
Du Preez was released two days later.
Taute said the unlawful incarceration claim pertains to this period.
Du Preez and Becker’s parole was revoked after a video was released on YouTube allegedly depicting them partying in Becker’s prison cell a few weeks before they were due to be released.
Claims were made at the time that they also had a cellphone with them illegally.
Throughout last year, the pair, especially Du Preez, lodged numerous high court applications for their release.
Their main contention was that the alleged violation was committed while they were still in prison.
They maintained that it had nothing to do with their parole and that they did nothing to violate their parole conditions during their five days of freedom.
Du Preez’s applications were rejected by the court. Last September Judge Moses Mavundla ruled that the department was within its rights when it revoked his parole.
He said the nature and gravity of Du Preez’s conduct in the video was serious and it undermined the general authority of the department.
Becker, who had his own legal team, hit the jackpot when Judge Andre Louw ordered his release in December. He said Becker had to be released on the same parole conditions as before.
Last year proved to be more taxing for Becker.
He was transferred to the Kokstad Maximum Security Prison weeks after returning to jail.
This followed claims that “another” illegal cellphone was found in his possession.
Becker remained in Kokstad until December when the department simply issued a statement to say he had been released.
Du Preez remained in the jail in Pretoria.
The pair, together with former school friends Reinach Tiedt and Gert van Schalkwyk, were sentenced in 2005 to 12 years’ imprisonment for the murder of a homeless man in a park in Moreleta Park, east of Pretoria, in 2001.
Tiedt and Van Schalkwyk were released on parole for 18 months from December 2011, but were imprisoned again in later after the Department of Correctional Services challenged the court’s decision to free them.
The four will, however, only be completely free in 2019, when their sentences are up.
Pretoria News