Warrant issued as ex-head of Hawks misses court date

THE Pretoria Magistrate’s Court has authorised a warrant for the arrest of the former head of the Hawks, Anwa Dramat, because he did not appear in court yesterday.

Dramat, Major- General Shadrack Sibiya, the suspended head of the Gauteng Hawks, and a fellow Hawks officer, Colonel Lesley Maluleke, were to have appeared before magistrate Lydia Painter on four counts of kidnapping, two of defeating the ends of justice and one of contravening the Immigration Act.

Dramat did not show up. Painter authorised a warrant of arrest for him, but ordered that it be held over until the next court date, when he would be expected to explain why he did not attend court.

When the case comes before court again on September 30, Sibiya and Maluleke are to receive responses from the minister of police to their applications for legal financial assistance. Dramat has been granted assistance.

Lawyer Victor Nkhwashu, who was standing in for the trio’s legal representatives, said Dramat could not make it to court because of the problem of expenditure that would have been incurred by him travelling to Gauteng from his home in Cape Town for a short postponement.

Nkhwashu appealed to Police Minister Nathi Nhleko to expedite the assessments of Sibiya and Maluleke’s requests for aid so the matter could be heard as soon as possible.

It is alleged that Dramat, Sibiya and Maluleke were involved in the arrests of Zimbabwean migrants and the illegal rendition of four of them to their home country in late 2010 and early 2011.

In asking the court to postpone the case to September, prosecutor George Baloyi said it was hoped there would be a response by then to the two men’s applications for financial assistance.

The three men are each out on R5 000 bail. The matter is to be heard in the North Gauteng High Court from October 10 to early December.

Dramat was suspended in 2014 for his alleged involvement in the rendition. He eventually resigned after fighting a long court battle, during which the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria found his suspension was unconstitutional. – ANA