Ex-intelligence boss cleared

Former Crime Intelligence boss Richard Mdluli was acquitted on four convictions of intimidation in the High Court in Johannesburg yesterday.

At issue is a judgment by the Constitutional Court that found that sections of the Intimidation Act were unconstitutional, finding that it limited the right to freedom of expression.

In the judgment, which Justice Leona Theron handed down on October 22, the court found that sections 1(1)(b) and 1(2) of the Intimidation Act 72 of 1982 limited freedom of expression and that section 1(2) of the Act created a reverse onus.

This ruling “has a profound effect” on the four charges of intimidation that Mdluli was found guilty of on July 30, the state argued, as such a ruling has “drawn a line” through those convictions.

Advocate Zaais van Zyl, for the state, argued that Mdluli should be acquitted on four charges of intimidation.

Acting for Mdluli, advocate Ike Motloung agreed with Van Zyl, saying: “Once the Constitutional Court has spoken, that is it. The judgment goes retrospectively and applies to this case. What the judgment says is that [Mdluli] was charged in terms of a law that doesn’t exist.”

Judge Ratha Mokgoatlheng pointed out that the law did indeed exist until it was found unconstitutional. “The constitutionality of the law has changed. That doesn’t mean the law never existed.”

Mokgoatlheng said he would write a proper judgment in due course. “The accused [Mdluli] is acquitted on the four convictions of intimidation.”

Sentencing has been postponed to February 3.

The case against Mdluli and Mthembeni Mthunzi has been ongoing for four years.

Mdluli and Mthunzi were found guilty of charges relating to the 1999 kidnapping and assault of Oupa Ramogibe who was married to Mdluli’s former lover Tshidi Buthelezi.

They were both acquitted of the intimidation and defeating the ends of justice. – News24 Wire