Advocate arrest needs investigating

THE Hollywood-style arrest of advocate Malesela Teffo was, in my opinion, clearly contrived to humiliate a lawyer poking holes in the “iron-clad” case of the State in the Meyiwa murder trial in the execution of his duty as a defence advocate.

The State complaint into his line of questioning points in that direction. The comments of the learned judge, too, all point to something much deeper and sinister.

It took eight years to get the matter to court.

Someone has an interest in this matter and, perhaps, Teffo was probing a matter, though not relevant to the murder trial, that would open a can of worms that could embarrass highly placed people who were uncomfortable with the inferences being drawn. The charge against Teffo?

I stand to be corrected, but was it for allegedly trespassing at a police station?

Really?

He was a former police officer who, I understand, often represented whistle-blowers in the police service.

Is there something there that rattled SAPS? I don’t know. We need answers.

To arrest and handcuff him in court and in public is nothing short of a raw demonstration of power of a nascent police state.

As a lawyer who has had experience of police brutality and tactics in the apartheid era, I refuse to remain silent and I demand a thorough investigation of what happened.

SABER AHMED JAZBHAY | Newlands West