Police must

IT’S all very well for the government to fuss about whether courts are implementing the constitution properly. But what are government departments doing to make sure their staff understand and implement the law, particularly the constitution and bill of rights?

Officials of the Department of Home Affairs, for example, appear to believe they may ignore court orders when it comes to people who, in their view, should not be allowed into SA. Now the high court in Cape Town is trying to ensure that the department trains its officers properly so that they understand the law – and their obligations to obey court orders.

This week an unrelated judgment against the Minister of Safety and Security became available, showing that a key law developed to guard against domestic violence is still not understood and implemented properly by police.

The judge, Mohini Murugasen of the high court in Durban, called it a matter of “great concern” that despite many years since the law was promulgated in 1999, police who are supposed to carry out the provisions of the law are still not being trained how to do the job.

She was dealing with a civil claim brought by Musawenkosi Khanyile against the minister and a police inspector, Muzi Gumede, for wrongful arrest and detention. Khanyile claims more than R165 000 but the court first had to establish whether the police were in fact liable.

Khanyile’s girlfriend was granted an interim protection order in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on January 5, 2007, that said he was not to threaten, harass emotionally or physically abuse her.

As usual in such cases, a warrant for his arrest was authorised but its execution was suspended. This makes it easier for the warrant to be invoked and used to arrest a partner who later infringes such an order.

Three weeks after she had obtained the order she went to Durban central police station. She gave Gumede a copy of the warrant, complained that Khanyile had breached the order and asked that he be arrested.

She did not give Gumede a copy of the interim protection order – she had forgotten to bring it but arranged to deliver it later – nor did she make an affidavit about what