Pretoria - A man who had to sit in a smelly police cell for two days before he was told that he could go home, simply because he would not pay a R10 000 bribe to police officers is due to get R275 000 in damages.
Bhekumuzi Nhlapo was watching television when police officers suddenly burst into his home. They claimed the chassis number of his car was tampered with and threatened to arrest him if he did not pay R10 000.
Nhlapo stood his ground and refused. The result was two days in an overcrowded and unventilated police cell, where the smell from the open toilet was so bad that he could not eat during this time.
Nhlapo turned to the Johannesburg High Court, where he claimed between R250 000 and R300 000 in damages.
The police at first denied that the incident ever happened, but at the steps of the court, they admitted liability.
Counsel acting for the SAPS insisted that R80 000 in damages was sufficient to repay Nhlapo, 41, for his ordeal. But Judge Susannah Cowan, however, said he deserved more. She gave the police a tongue lashing for the fact that they trampled on Nhlapo’s constitutional rights.
Nhlapo’s nightmare ordeal started shortly before midnight on November 13, 2019.
He went outside as he heard his dogs were barking and saw that police officers were trying to gain access to his house. They asked him if he was Thabiso and he said no. He showed them documents stating his identity, but they kept on searching his house.
They then asked him if he had a car and he took them outside to show them his vehicle. They inspected the engine and ’concluded’ that the chassis number was tampered with. Nhlapo tried to explain that nothing was wrong with the chassis number, but they would not listen.
The police said they were going to impound the car and that he had to come with them to the police station. On the way to the door, they said they would leave him and the car alone if he paid them R10 000.
When he refused, the took him to the Kagiso police station, where he was locked up.
He was told that he would appear in court the following day, but this never happened. Two days later he was told to go home and to forget about everything as there was nothing wrong with the car.
Nhlapo told the court that he felt bad about being arrested and locked up for no reason. He said he lost his trust in the police as the people who were supposed to protect the community, yet they solicit bribes.
Counsel for the SAPS only posed one question to him in court – whether he did not think R80 000 was enough compensation for him. Nhlapo responded that he thought his ordeal was worth more than that.
Judge Cowan noted that Nhlapo was locked up for two days under inhumane circumstances for no reason. She also commented that the police officers had harassed him in his own home and that he was arrested for an improper motive.
She said the very people who the Constitution entrusted to protect and secure the inhabitants of the country and who are supposed to uphold the law solicited a bribe from him.
“In this case multiple constitutional rights which lie at the core of our Bill of rights were violated.”
In awarding R275 000, the judge said this must reflect the condemnation of society against this type of conduct by the SAPS.
Pretoria News