Police vehicles seized in payment dispute
Stunned Mount Road officers watch as cars are taken away on flatbed trucks
Mount Road police watched in disbelief this week as the sheriff arrived and loaded eight of their vehicles onto flatbed trucks and drove off with them in response to a 10-year-long dispute over money allegedly owed to one of their own.
The temporary owner of the eight unmarked vehicles was an SAPS employee who is claiming housing allowance benefits dating back to 2013.
And though police were working on a settlement to reclaim their vehicles yesterday, they might have to fork out even more cash in a separate matter to a Zwide man who spent a year behind bars for a hijacking he claims he knows nothing about.
A notice of motion filed with the high court in Gqeberha could result in the 23-yearold walking away with R2m.
Though details about the labour dispute that resulted in the removal of the vehicles from the Mount Road police station are sparse, the removals left the station employees red-faced.
One police officer said she had been standing in the yard outside the building when the trucks arrived.
“I asked colleagues if they knew anything, and then we saw them loading the fleet cars.
“I thought it was some kind of joke, because we already have so few cars,” she said.
“Only later did we hear the station owed someone money.
“I laughed, but honestly it was a little embarrassing seeing police vehicles carried off like that.”
Precision Tow-in Services confirmed that it had removed eight police vehicles from Mount Road on Tuesday afternoon.
According to BBV Attorneys director Craig Jessop, the firm represented an employee at the
Mount Road police station who is owed a substantial amount of money for a housing allowance that has accumulated over the past 10 years.
Jessop said there was an arbitration process in which the police disputed the employee’s claim.
However, the dispute “ran stale” and when the payout was not forthcoming, the law firm approached the sheriff to attach the vehicles as payment.
“There now seems to be a settlement between the two parties and the vehicles will be released back to the police,” Jessop said.
Police spokesperson Brigadier Tembinkosi Kinana confirmed the incident, but would not comment further other than saying that the matter had been resolved.
“This office can confirm that there was a removal. The issue has since been resolved and the vehicles will be returned to the
SAPS [on Wednesday]. “Furthermore, and given that the issue relates to a pending legal matter, this office will not entertain any further inquiries relating hereto,” Kinana said.
Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Kuhle Nobebe is waiting to hear what the next step will be in his R2m lawsuit against the minister of police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
According to papers filed with the court on March 27, Nobebe spent a year behind bars after his arrest in August 2020 for a hijacking he did not commit.
In the notice of motion, MSZ Attorneys, representing Nobebe, set out the particulars of the claim and the amounts sought for their client’s alleged wrongful arrest and detention, malicious prosecution and trauma suffered during his arrest and time in custody.
Nobebe’s attorneys gave the respondents, the police and NPA, until May 9 to oppose their application for a trial date.
The motion was heard on Tuesday and a trial date will be confirmed.
Speaking outside his Zwide home, Nobebe said yesterday he was awaiting feedback from his attorneys but was happy that progress was being made. “It’s been a long time. “My time in prison was tough and life since then has not been easy either,” he said.
According to Nobebe, he was in a car in Motherwell with a friend on the morning of August 26 2020, when they were approached by the police.
“Before I knew what was happening, my friend jumped out of the car and ran away.
“I was still with the car when the police grabbed me, handcuffed me and threw me in the back of the van,” he said.
“I asked them why I was being arrested, and they told me because I hijacked someone at
‘My time in St Albans was like hell, and I still wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares from some of the things that happened there’
gunpoint. I was so confused.”
But in the weeks that followed, his court dates were repeatedly postponed, until ultimately his formal bail application failed.
“Honestly, the only thing that kept me going was the support from my family, because they believed in my innocence.
“My time in St Albans was like hell, and I still wake up in the middle of the night with nightmares from some of the things that happened there,” Nobebe said.
In the months that followed, the case was postponed several times, but in September 2021 the charges against him were withdrawn.
“You cannot imagine the relief I felt when they told me I can go.
“At first I didn’t believe them, but when I got home it really sank in that I was a free man.
“I believe I have a strong case, and I believe that I deserve to be compensated for what I went through because of their mistake,” Nobebe said.
NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said the notice of motion was brought to the NPA’s attention and the relevant people would respond once they had studied the document.