Gaye Derby-Lewis, the wife of one of the two men jailed for the murder of Chris Hani, is suing Minister of Safety and Security Charles Nqakula for about R1,4-million, alleging wrongful arrest and malicious prosecution.
Derby-Lewis was arrested in November 2002 as part of a police crackdown on alleged Boeremag members or sympathisers. She spent a weekend in jail on allegations that she had been found in possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.
In June last year Derby-Lewis was acquitted on a charge of illegally possessing a .38 Special revolver and an Iver Johnson shotgun, and the alternative charge of keeping the weapons without permission.
She was also found not guilty of not having a safe in which to lock away the firearms, including her own licensed Rossi revolver. A charge of possessing 12 rounds of 9.65mm ammunition without having a gun capable of firing them was withdrawn a month before her acquittal.
Derby-Lewis’s husband, former Conservative Party MP Clive Derby-Lewis, is serving a life sentence for his role in the assassination of the African National Congress and South African Communist Party leader.
She argues in papers before the Pretoria High Court that her arrest was wrongful, and the fact that the state continued to prosecute even after she had handed in proof while in custody that the guns were licensed made the police action malicious.
Gaye Derby-Lewis’s attorney, Lizl van Jaarsveldt, told the Mail & Guardian that the R1,4-million figure is broken down into R861 000 for the police prosecuting her while aware that Derby-Lewis had a licence for her firearms; R500 000 for her being kept in custody for three nights; and R56 000 for monies paid in legal fees for the duration of her trial. The police are also accused of causing damage estimated at R7 475 for kicking down a door, damaging a gate and breaking a set of Zulu clay pots.
Van Jaarsveldt says the Department of Safety and Security makes a blanket denial of all allegations levelled against it. “It means that they are denying even the fact that my client was incarcerated.”
Safety and security spokesperson Les Xinwa said: “We have received summonses, but we are not commenting.”