Durban - R50 000 for having his life put “in the toilet” by wrongful arrest is hardly compensation for the emotional trauma it caused him, says the victim.
SAPS Durban North officers brought Phumelela Njabulo Mathenjwa’s afternoon jog to an abrupt end on March 10, 2010.
They pointed their guns in the uMhlanga resident’s face, accused him of being a sought-after criminal, and assaulted and arrested him.
After spending more than 24 hours in a squalid prison cell, Mathenjwa said he was released when the police realised they had the wrong man, but he received no explanation or apology.
Hurt by the injustice he suffered, the 25-year-old launched a damages claim for pain and suffering against the Minister of Police.
Even though he was paid R50 000 in damages on Wednesday after a five-year legal battle, Mathenjwa said it was a “hollow victory.”
“I never thought something like this would happen to me. But ever since that incident, my life has been in the toilet – this whole episode crushed me emotionally. Worst of all, nobody has said sorry to me.
“I couldn’t believe that, of all the people who were jogging that evening, they picked on me,” said the aspiring musician and actor, who has a degree from Afda, the renowned SA School of Motion Picture Medium and Live Performance.
At the time, Mathenjwa was studying TV and Video Technology at DUT. He was a fitness fanatic and an afternoon jog was routine for him.
Mathenjwa usually jogged with an MP3 player and headphones in his ears.
Mathenjwa passed the Square Hotel in uMhlanga Rocks Drive and stopped to do an exercise routine.
“Suddenly I saw two guns in my face. I was confused (as) I didn’t hear them approach,” said Mathenjwa.
“They were in a belligerent mood and shouted at me, asking where I was coming from and what I was doing there,” he said.
When Mathenjwa asked what was happening to him, a policeman punched him. He was then loaded into their van and two other policemen arrived on the scene.
The policemen spoke outside the van and Mathenjwa said he heard one of them saying: “This is the smash and grab artist who ties a spark plug to a rope and smashes windscreens.”
At the Durban North police station, Mathenjwa said, the arresting officers wore “smug” looks because they believed he was a “prized” criminal. He was eventually moved to holding cells at Durban Central station.
“I pleaded my innocence with the policemen there, but they wouldn’t believe me. I felt like I was going to have a nervous breakdown,” he said.
He eventually phoned his mother, but the call was interrupted at some point.
Mathenjwa said his night in prison was a “hellish” experience. “I couldn’t sleep and never ate the food. Cockroaches were in abundance and the smell of urine and s*** was awful. The experience chipped away at the fabric of who I am,” Mathenjwa said.
A female police officer told Mathenjwa they had video footage of him committing the crime.
The next day he was subjected to an identification parade for an unrelated crime in Umlazi, and got singled out as the perpetrator. “But I hadn’t been to Umlazi in years,” Mathenjwa said .
At some stage the female officer told him he would be released in the afternoon. When he was not released, Mathenjwa said he contemplated suicide.
He was eventually released that evening with no explanation.
The same woman officer who had been taunting Mathenjwa about video footage, asked his mother, who came to fetch him, for a lift to Durban North.
“I’m not completely at peace with what happened to me. I don’t trust the justice system or the police,” he said.
Sunday Tribune