Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo
Police Minister Bheki Cele, Deputy Finance Minister David Masondo and the head of the Hawks, Godfrey Lebeya, will have to answer questions in the high court about how they allegedly influenced the “unlawful arrest” of Masondo’s former lover.
Details of how Palesa Lebitse had a forced abortion at the insistence of Masondo have also been alleged.
Lebitse also alleges the deputy finance minister abused state resources to settle personal scores.
Lebitse’s civil suit raises questions about politicians’ influence in law enforcement. This is not the first time similar allegations have been made against men in powerful positions.
The state capture inquiry led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo saw former finance minister Malusi Gigaba pitted against his estranged wife, Norma Mngoma, who was found to have been unlawfully arrested by the Hawks at the behest of her husband.
The high court in Pretoria found that the Hawks had acted with malice. Mngoma said her arrest by the Hawks was influenced by Gigaba.
In another recent case, the ANC’s former treasurer general, Mathews Phosa, was involved in a spat with former constitutional court judge Zak Yacoob and has admitted using his influence with the Hawks to trace Yacoob’s cell phone number.
Political analyst Ongama Mtimka said questions must be raised about the extent to which law enforcement is the political arsenal for rivals.
As Masondo awaits his appeal against an order to step aside by the ANC’s integrity commission, Lebitse, who is at the centre of the ANC’s ruling, has filed a civil suit demanding R1.5-million in damages.
Masondo is accused of using his influence to coerce the Hawks into unlawfully arresting and detaining his former lover.
In court papers filed in January, Lebitse is demanding R500 000 from Cele and Lebeya. She is also demanding that Masondo jointly or severally pay R1.5-million in damages with Dr Meshack Mbokota, who is accused of assault for performing the alleged forced abortion.
The matter dates back to August 2019, when Lebitse was arrested by the Hawks in what was called a sting operation. The Hawks had set a trap for Lebitse in which she accepted money from men she believed were representing Masondo but were undercover police officers.
In her court application, Lebitse said she was detained at the Douglasdale police station from 17 August to 19 August 2019. She was released after appearing in the Randburg magistrate’s court on charges of trying to bribe Masondo. The prosecutor declined to prosecute her.
It later emerged that Masondo had offered her money.
“At the time of arrest and detention, the members of the Hawks were acting within the course and scope of their employment with either or both the first [Cele] and second [Lebeya] defendants,” she argues.
As a result of the actions of the Hawks in respect of the wrongful and unlawful arrest and detention, Lebitse said she suffered damages of R500 000 and gave notice to Cele and Lebeya in terms of the provisions of The Institution of Legal Proceedings Against Certain Organs of State Act prior to issuing the summons.
Despite the notice and demand, the first and second defendants refused, ignored or failed to compensate her.
Lebitse argued that Masondo wrongfully and unlawfully set the law in motion by laying false charges of extortion against her.
She also accused Masondo of assault, claiming that he forced her to consume pills to terminate her pregnancy.
“Thereafter, and in the early hours of 17 January 2019, Masondo drove Lebitse to Mbokota’s surgery in Hatfield, Pretoria. At Mbokota’s surgery, Mbokota acting at the instance of Masondo wrongfully and unlawfully, performed the dilation and curette surgery on the plaintiff without her written consent, caused to be cut the plaintiff’s umbilical cord and threw the remains of her unborn child in a plastic bag for them to be disposed of as medical waste.”
Lebitse claims that when Masondo coerced her to take the pill, her gestation period had exceeded the 20th week and that she had not voluntarily consented to the termination of her pregnancy.
“As a result of the termination of the plaintiff’s pregnancy as fore-stated, the plaintiff suffered a psychiatric illness, alternatively a psychiatric injury, due to enduring the shock and pain of consuming the said pill; enduring and observing the sight of the remains of her unborn child being put in a plastic bag; and the trauma of relieving the experience of the performance of the curette surgery, the cutting of her umbilical cord and the sight of the remains of her unborn child being placed in a plastic bag over and over.”
But, in a letter written to AfriForum’s advocate Gerrie Nel, who is assisting Lebitse, Rodney de Kock, the National Prosecuting Authority’s (NPA’s) deputy head of prosecutions services, intimated that charges could still be brought against Masondo. In the letter, dated 19 November 2020, De Kock told Nel that a criminal case against Masondo is still being probed.
Police Minister Bheki Cele (left) and the Hawks’ Godfrey Lebeya (right).
“The dockets registered by Ms Lebitse had to be considered in conjunction with those registered by Dr Masondo [six dockets], as the matters were interrelated, to enable this office to make an informed decision thereon,” De Kock wrote.
Political analyst Mtimka said questions must arise about instances of alleged political interference in law enforcement and whether it is a systemic problem.
“There are too many coincidences in terms of what the spouses claim, the weight of the charges and the disproportionate response by the Hawks, which is in the bidding of politicians, because it seems that the cases end up not holding water, which then suggests that there is a significant degree of, at best, corruption, and, at worst, collusion between politicians and law enforcement agencies, which raises questions about integrity and independence of the institution as far as political processes are concerned,” he said.
“We should also be careful not to fall into the trap of those that have used that as a defence against what otherwise are cases which they need to answer on the basis of their merit.”
The Democratic Alliance’s Andrew Whitfield said political interference in the Hawks’ work of the Hawks and the use of the Hawks for political gain demonstrates how far state capture reaches into the state.
“It is unacceptable for law enforcement agencies to do favours for ANC politicians while South Africans are denied basic service delivery from the [police]. Masondo had not responded to requests for comment by the time of going to print. Hawks spokesperson Katlego Mogale said she was waiting for the Hawks’ legal services to respond. And the NPA’s spokesperson, Sipho Ngwema, said he had sent the Mail & Guardian’s query to De Kock and was awaiting a response.
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