A KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) woman has told a horror tale of how she was let down by police, police watchdog, the Independent Police Investigative Directorate (Ipid) and the legal system in her fight for justice against her husband, whom she accused of GBV and rape.
The allegations are contained in a letter written by KZN member of the provincial legislature and DA spokesperson for community liaison, Riona Gokool, to the police this month, titled “Urgent request for SAPS internal investigation into case number 40/05/2021.”
“Ms Noxolo, the complainant, reported at Marianhill SAPS following a violent attack that occurred on April 30, 2021.
“The alleged perpetrator is a member of the SAPS, and the reported crimes include rape, physical assault, gender-based violence (GBV), and pointing of a firearm – a service firearm issued by the SAPS,” writes the MPL, narrating Noxolo Nana Nene’s story.
“Despite the seriousness of the charges, the matter has not been adequately investigated, and the conduct of the relevant officials reflect systemic failure, deliberate obstruction and possible corruption.”
Complementing Gokool’s letter, the complainant told Sunday World she opened the case at Marianhill police station in 2021, after her husband, who cannot be named for legal reasons, alle-gedly attacked her. She said that she had only recently moved out of their marital home and was building a new house for herself and her daughter.
“He came at midnight; my helper was off, and my daughter was visiting relatives. He was angry because he had been served divorce papers. He held me at gunpoint with his state firearm, insisting that I must take him back. “When I refused, he tripped me to the ground. He then raped me, telling me that when he is done, he will kill me, and nobody will find my body.”
In what could yet be the worst failure, she alleged that when the case eventually went to court, she had yet to meet the investigating officer.
“He only called me twice – once to tell me that the case was going to court, the second time he asked me to pay him R45 000.
“He told me that my husband had offered him R40 000 to close the case. When I refused, he told me that I must forget that my case will go anywhere since he has everybody in the Pinetown court eating out of the palm of his hand.
“He said my husband and his connections in Pinetown court will buy the docket. Since then, I’ve been trying to reopen the case. I have exhausted all avenues of the justice system.”
Buoyed by his victory, the 35-year-old mother told Sunday World further that on April 5 last year, her husband accosted her at Westville Mall.
“He told me he had followed me from Pavilion Mall. I went to the Westville police station to open a case of harassment; he was there with his police friends, and they arrested me on a copy of a warrant of arrest he carried in his car”.
The threats and intimidation did not end there.
According to Gokool’s letter, a lawyer who had previously represented Nene would later tell the court that he was withdrawing from the case after receiving a series of threatening phone calls, in which he was instructed to quit the case.
Before he quit, on March 11, 2022, the lawyer wrote to Ipid asking it to take over the case, citing his client’s reasonable suspected that her husband’s colleagues were protecting him.
“In this regard, we are therefore instructed to request that your office call the above docket and take over the investigation. We are further advised that a second unlawful pointing [of a firearm] docket was opened by a third party against the suspect at the same station, which has likewise gone nowhere.”
At the time of going to print, Mthembu had not commented on the allegations.
Last month, Ipid offered to comment once its investigator had met Nene. That is yet to happen.
