Evidence wa ka Ngobeni
Three policemen from the Soweto flying squad appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court this week on charges of shooting, mutilating and killing a University of the Witwatersrand security guard whom they arrested on campus. The policemen, who have been suspended pending a police investigation, are accused of shooting Nicky Hlongwane several times and chopping off both his hands.
Hlongwane, whose mutilated corpse was found this week in the veld outside Roodepoort, was arrested by the police on March 12 at the Wits University staff quarters.
The policemen this week initially denied having arrested Hlongwane, but were then confronted with records from Wits security in which two of them had logged their names, force numbers and the time they entered the campus. Wits Law Clinic lawyers, representing the Hlongwane family, say the records show that constables FS Mlangeni, force number 091-4582, and ND Tshabalala, force number 062-7022/1, entered the university premises at 11.45pm on March 12 2000. A third man was allegedly also in the car. Police confirmed one of the arrested officers had turned state’s witness, but didn’t specify which one.
Sources close to the investigation claim the three police officers used a police firearm to kill Hlongwane. An investigation is being conducted to determine the weapon which was used.
The three officers are alleged to have also chopped off Hlongwane’s ears before dumping his lifeless body in secluded veld in Roodeport shortly after they arrested him at the university’s campus in Parktown, Johannesburg.
After his arrest Hlongwane’s family tried unsuccessfully to locate him at various police stations around Johannesburg. The Wits Law Clinic, under the instruction of the family, wrote letters to Minister of Safety and Security Steve Tshwete and the Independent Complaints Directorate (IDC), complaining about the disappearance of Hlongwane while in police custody.
According to Professor Peter Jordi of the law clinic, the information from the Wits security logbook and other documentation was given to Tshwete and the ICD. The records at the Wits security department also have the two officers’ identity numbers, reference numbers and the registration of the car they were travelling in.
While awaiting a response from police authorities, the family was informed that Hlongwane’s body was in a Roodepoort mortuary. The police say they launched an investigation after Hlongwane’s body was found. Police sources claim Hlongwane was arrested for his alleged involvement in tribal clashes in KwaZulu-Natal.
The police said this week the case against the three officers would be postponed.
Meanwhile, the Johannesburg High Court has ordered Tshwete to pay about R180 000 in compensation to two victims of police torture, unlawful arrest and illegal detention. Lucy Themba and Charlotte Pharamela were assaulted and illegally detained by the Brixton police in 1996.
According to court papers, the Brixton police came to Themba’s house in Soweto looking for her son, Oupa. The papers say Brixton police officers assaulted Themba and her daughter-in-law (Pharamela) after the two failed to reveal the whereabouts of Oupa. The two also experienced electric shocks at the hands of the police.
The court also heard evidence that a police officer used a leather belt to beat and strangle Pharamela. At the police station, the court heard, she experienced more vicious assaults from the police. “Things were placed on the back of her neck, on her waist at the navel and her jeans were unfastened and objects placed in the immediate vicinity of her pubic area,” the court said. The court also lambasted the police for their abuse of power and described the assault as “frightening, grossly humiliating and obviously painful”. The court awarded Themba R96 364 and Pharamela R90 864 in damages, and money for future medical expenses.