While the state prosecutes four police officers for the murder of Mthokozisi Ntumba in the criminal courts, over in the civil courts, the police minister is denying outright that Ntumba died at the hands of police.
“The contents of these paragraphs are denied and the plaintiffs are put to the proof thereof,” is the response in the pleading filed on behalf of minister Bheki Cele to the entire damages claim made by Ntumba’s family.
Ntumba was killed, allegedly by a police rubber bullet, during a student protest in Braamfontein in March last year. His death caused an outcry. The 35-year-old had not been involved in the protest but was coming out of a clinic after consulting a doctor about a stomach ache when the incident happened. He left a young family: a widow Thandi Ntumba and their children, aged eight, four and one.
Police officers Tshepisho Kekana, Cidraas Motseothata, Madimetja Legodi and Victor Muhammad were charged over his murder. The criminal trial resumes tomorrow where judgment will be delivered on their application for a discharge in terms of section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. These are granted when the state’s case is so bad that, even before the accused have begun their defence, the court finds the state has failed to make a case.
Prosecutor Evelyn Moseki-Khumalo said she was confident in the state’s case. But in the event that the accused are discharged, the civil trial will be the only form of accountability for the death of Ntumba.
When the trial first got under way, lawyers issued summons on behalf of his family for more than R56m for funeral costs, emotional shock, trauma and grief, medical treatment for impaired mental health, and loss of support.
However, in response to the detailed summons, the minister’s plea was simply to deny everything. After the pleadings, the next step was “discovery”, where the parties put all the documents relevant to their case before the court. “The minister discovered nothing,” said Ntumba’s attorney, Rupert Candy.
The minister’s discovery affidavit discloses only “pleadings and notices” — the documents already filed in the litigation and the “correspondence between parties’ legal representatives” — the letters between the lawyers. No other documents relevant to the minister’s case are put before the court.
Candy said: “We’ve filed all the documents we intend relying upon. Apart from the correspondence between us, there is not a single document (from them). How do they prove their defence?”
Candy said if the police minister had a defence, then their legal team had to put forward documents that supported it so that everyone could prepare and the trial could get under way. If the police minister had no defence, “why are they wasting taxpayers’ time and money?” They should begin discussions about settling, he said.
When sent questions on Wednesday, the police minister’s spokesperson Lirandzu Themba said she was unable to obtain information from SAPS legal services to enable her to comment.
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