Cops in brash raid on Zuma critic Glenister's home
17 Jul
2015 00:00
Police smashed their way into Hugh Glenister's house after a drug "tip-off" from crime intelligence.
Eight
plain-clothes police officers raided the northern Johannesburg house of
outspoken constitutional rights crusader Hugh Glenister without a warrant last
week, jumping over his garden wall and smashing through doors inside his
property.
The
police, who told Glenister that they were acting on a tip-off from the
service’s crime intelligence division that there were drugs on the Sunninghill
premises, are later alleged to have informally apologised and offered to
compensate him for the damage.
The businessperson,
a campaigner for police independence and a strident critic of President Jacob
Zuma, took on lawmakers in 2008 over the dissolution of the Scorpions
corruption-busting unit.
After he
lost that battle, Glenister went to court over the constitutionality of placing
the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, better known as the Hawks,
under the command of the police.
While he
and the Helen Suzman Foundation succeeded in having parts of the South African
Police Service Act relating to the independence of the Hawks declared
unconstitutional last year, the Constitutional Court berated part of his
submission, saying it amounted to “reckless and odious political posturing”.
Last year Zuma also accused him of defamation after Glenister said Zuma and the
ANC were corrupt.
Motives?
This week Glenister told amaBhungane that although the raid might have been “an accident”, he could not rule out other motives linked to his history of litigation and vociferous criticisms of some politicians.
This week Glenister told amaBhungane that although the raid might have been “an accident”, he could not rule out other motives linked to his history of litigation and vociferous criticisms of some politicians.
His
lawyer, Kevin Louis, said he would lay charges against the Sandton police
station officers for breaking and entering, trespassing and malicious damage to
property.
Louis
said he was also looking at lodging a larger complaint with the Independent
Police Investigative Directorate regarding the conduct of the police after the
raid, which took place last Wednesday.
He said
that when Glenister’s daughter, Tracy, who also lives in the house, tried to
open a case with police the next day, she was told to email a statement.
She said,
when she phoned the Sandton station, a Colonel Govender told her to take
pictures of the damage to the house and email a statement from Sebenzani
Mngadi, a domestic worker who was alone at the house during the incident, to
the station. “When I explained that I needed someone to come take my
housekeeper’s statement and to make notes of the damage, he told me I could
email it through to him.”
‘Many enemies’
Louis said he would also send letters regarding the incident to the national police commissioner, as well as to the ministers of police and safety and security.
Louis said he would also send letters regarding the incident to the national police commissioner, as well as to the ministers of police and safety and security.
In a
sworn statement, Glenister said Sandton detective Lieutenant Colonel André de
Klerk asked him over the phone whether he had “any enemies”. Glenister’s
response was that he is “sure he has many enemies within the ANC and [with]
various criminals”.
The
police officer also allegedly told Glenister that “all damages suffered would
be covered”.
De Klerk
allegedly said that, although he was not the officer who authorised the
operation, “he knew of it as it is necessary that he be informed of activities
in his area. He again stated that what had been done was not illegal.”
‘I feared for my life’
Questions put to the Sandton police and Govender had not been answered by the time of going to print. De Klerk could not be reached for comment.
Questions put to the Sandton police and Govender had not been answered by the time of going to print. De Klerk could not be reached for comment.
Describing
the bizarre incident in a statement, Mngadi said she “observed a group of men,
dressed in plain [casual] clothing, jumping over the wall of the property.
“I
screamed, believing the men to be intent on committing a home invasion and
robbery, and I attempted to run towards the main gate of the property in order
to leave … I feared for my life,” Mngadi said.
“One of
the men … stopped me from leaving the property, and stated that he was a member
of the South African Police Service and produced a badge that had an [SAPS]
emblem thereon. It did not contain his name or any numbers.
“I
inquired of the man, who did not furnish his name, why I should believe that
the badge is his … The man stated that I could accept that he and the other men
were members of the SAPS and did not intend to harm me.”
‘Extremely afraid’
Mngadi stated that she was instructed to take the men inside the house. She noted that they did not produce a warrant or tell her what they were searching for. But being “extremely afraid”, she did as she was told.
Mngadi stated that she was instructed to take the men inside the house. She noted that they did not produce a warrant or tell her what they were searching for. But being “extremely afraid”, she did as she was told.
The
Criminal Procedure Act and the Police Act allow for search-and-seizure raids
without a warrant, but only when there is reasonable suspicion that a crime has
been or is being committed, or that evidence is being hidden or destroyed.
Mngadi
said the police officers took a set of keys from the kitchen pantry and
proceeded to check every room in the house, including Glenister’s bedroom,
going through his drawers and cupboards.
She
alleged that they grabbed two business cards belonging to one of Glenister’s
two daughters from a table and then moved to Tracy’s section of the house.
“When
none of the keys fitted the lock of the door [to this section], the men used a
large steel bar to break open the door. They looked around the room, but did
not take anything … The men then used the same steel bar … to break open the
door of the previous room [and] to break open a security gate separating this
room from further rooms at the back of the property, one of which … is occupied
by me.
“They
entered my room, searched under my bed and moved some of my belongings,” Mngadi
said.
Instructions
Mngadi said that when the men left, some jumped back over the perimeter wall. One of the men, who had been speaking Afrikaans throughout the operation, handed her a piece of paper with numbers on it and “instructed me to give the piece of paper to Mr Glenister”.
Mngadi said that when the men left, some jumped back over the perimeter wall. One of the men, who had been speaking Afrikaans throughout the operation, handed her a piece of paper with numbers on it and “instructed me to give the piece of paper to Mr Glenister”.
A white
man had then arrived in a BMW and spoke to the others in Afrikaans. They
subsequently drove away in the BMW and another vehicle, she said.
The M&G
Centre for Investigative Journalism (amaBhungane) produced this story. All
views are ours. See www.amabhungane.co.za for our
stories, activities and funding sources.
