A 72-year-old Mpumalanga pensioner who spent more than 16 months in jail after being falsely accused of raping a minor has been awarded R1.5-million in damages by the Johannesburg High Court.
The court found his arrest and prolonged detention both unlawful and unjustified.
Mangena Azon Mkhonza, once a respected community businessman, was running a thriving cooked meat business from his home in Marathon Squatter Camp near Germiston when police arrested him without a warrant on March 28, 2019.
He was held in degrading prison conditions until his release on August 14, 2020, spending 505 days behind bars even though charges had been dropped a month earlier.
Delivering judgment this week, acting judge Robert Thackwell ruled that
Mkhonza’s arrest on March 28, 2019, was unlawful.
The court found that the arrest was executed by Sergeant Mthunzi Mehlomakulu, whose conduct was sharply criticised.
The police docket revealed that both the complainant and her friend had allegedly been molested by the same man.
However, Mehlomakulu failed to interview one of the complainants to confirm or clarify the allegation. He also ignored troubling information in the docket suggesting that the complainant’s mother may have threatened her daughter into accusing Mkhonza – a critical detail that was never investigated.
“This was a critical omission. Moreover, there was also reference in the docket to threats by the victim’s mother to beat her (the victim) in relation to the incident,” the court stated.
“More generally, I did not find Sergeant Mehlomakulu to be an impressive witness. He was defensive and came across as evasive and, at times, irritable,” judge Thackwell said.
The court detailed the deep personal cost to Mkhonza, who was arrested in full view of his community, labelled a child molester, and locked away under inhumane prison conditions – all without a conviction.
“The plaintiff should never have been detained… never subjected to the degrading conditions of overcrowded cells, never separated from his family and business, and never stigmatised in his community as a suspected child molester,” the court stated.
“The heavy-handed arrest of an elderly man based on flimsy evidence represents exactly the kind of arbitrary state action that our Constitution prohibits.”
Mkhonza told the court that he did not even know the child or her mother, who accompanied the arresting officers to his home. He was never given a chance to respond before being handcuffed and taken away.
The family’s only source of income – their meat business – collapsed during his imprisonment. With no financial support, Mkhonza’s wife had to leave their home and return to live with her parents. Their vehicle was sold to survive.
“Upon his release, he faced stigma in his community and even in his home village in Mpumalanga, where people viewed him as a child molester. This reputational damage continues to affect him and, in all likelihood, will continue to do so,” the judgment read.
Even more disturbing was the revelation that after the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew charges on July 14, 2020, the prison only received the warrant of liberation on August 13 – resulting in a further month of unlawful detention.
Mkhonza initially sued the state for R30.3-million, calculating R60 000 for each of the 505 days he was incarcerated. While acknowledging the severity of his ordeal, the court ultimately awarded R1.5-million, balancing compassion with legal precedent.
“The amount reflects both the long duration of the detention and the severe impact it had on the plaintiff’s life, while remaining within reasonable bounds in comparison to other awards for unlawful arrest and detention,” the court ruled.
It further stressed that damages in such cases go beyond personal compensation – they serve as a deterrent to law enforcement and government misconduct.
