Cele seeks leave to appeal parts of Khosa high court judgment
POLICE Minister Bheki Cele is seeking leave to appeal parts of the high court judgment in the Collins Khosa case.
Khosa, 40, died after allegedly being assaulted by SANDF soldiers at his home in Soweto in March during the hard lockdown to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Khosa’s family brought an unusual application asking for several orders, including that the court restate the law regarding the right to life, human dignity and the right not to be tortured and that the authorities – soldiers and police – have to act within the ambit of the law.
North Gauteng High Court Judge Hans Fabricius ruled in favour of the family and made it clear that all armed forces must toe the line during lockdown.
He ruled that the ministers of defence and police had to develop and publish a code of conduct and operational procedures regulating the conduct of their members.
He further ordered that internal investigations into the Khosa case and the treatment of any other person whose rights were infringed by authorities during the lockdown should be completed and reports furnished to the court by yesterday.
It is the internal investigations aspect of the ruling that Cele is seeking to appeal against.
Details of Cele’s appeal emerged in a report of the National Council of Provinces’ select committee on security and justice dated May 29, which quotes Cele’s deputy, Cassel Mathale.
”The deputy minister responded that the complainant (Khosa’s family) was seeking to restate the law in terms of what was expected from security and law enforcement during lockdown and how they should collaborate on this. (The) SAPS has complied with orders made in the judgment, for example (the) code of conduct and guidelines on the use of force,” read the report.
According to the report, Mathale informed the committee that the SAPS would seek leave to appeal the court order in respect of the internal investigations.
Mathale assured the committee that as part of complying with the judgment the police had set up a complaints mechanism, and that the SAPS had communicated with the public in respect of how they should report cases of police brutality and published the numbers that the public should use to report such matters.
The Khosa family’s lawyer, Wikus Steyl, confirmed that he had received Cele’s application for leave to appeal yesterday and was still studying it.