After nearly two years of threats and court battles, SAPS whistleblower Patricia Morgan-Mashale anticipates an acquittal today.
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By Chris Steyn
South African Police Services (SAPS) Whistleblower Patricia Morgan-Mashale expects an acquittal in court today (Monday) – after having endured almost two years of threats to her life and persecution through the courts.
The former Senior Administration Clerk in the Firearm Registry in the Free State was forced into hiding in February 2022 after repeatedly trying to expose “massive” corruption in SAPS.
Veteran police- and violence monitor Mary de Haas – who has been fighting her case since day one – believes the origins of her persecution “lie in collusion between the State Security Agency (SSA) and SAPS management in trying to find out what information the Mashale couple might possess about corruption implicating key ANC (African National Congress) politicians and ministers in the Ramaphosa government”.
Mashale has been fighting a drawn-out legal battle since September 2022 when Deputy Provincial Commissioner Major General Solly Lesia opened a criminal case against her and her husband George for alleged breach of a Harassment Order he had obtained against them for allegedly sharing WhatsApp messages – not even written or sent by them – that was supposedly insulting to him.
When Mashale duly appeared in court for a remand hearing in November that year, the presiding Magistrate told her she did not need to appear in person if her legal representative was present.
However, after receipt of the transcript, it was discovered that the court record had been tampered with and the relevant pages of the proceedings had been excised: Pages 1 and 2 of the hard copy court record were missing, and only page 3 was in the file.
As a consequence of that, an arrest warrant was issued for Mashale when she did not come out of hiding for the next hearing on 3 March last year (2023) – and an international Red Alert was even put out for her to be tracked down.
It was only when Whistleblower House intervened and provided an experienced lawyer for Mashale that she dared to go to court on 17 August last year to get the warrant cancelled – but not before she was detained, put in leg irons, and held in a cold locker room after being told she had to report to the police station to have the warrant cancellation processed.
At her next appearance on 30 October, the power was off, and when it remained off after several hours, the case was postponed until 20 November.
Mashale duly turned up, but found herself alone in court: the case was not on the court roll, and no prosecutor was there to hear the case. The complainant, General Lesia, was not present at this or the previous hearing, and nor were any witnesses. Bizarrely, she found herself wandering the court building looking for her accuser and somebody to prosecute her.
After her appearance on 22 January this year, she pointed out that she had never thought that she would be the accused in a criminal trial, but added: “It was a very good day.”
At her appearance on 2 April, Mashale fumed: “When they arrested me, everything was functioning perfectly well, but now that I am in court, nothing is functioning. The Magistrate has been waiting for the Prosecutor since 8 this morning…”
She described it as “another deliberate delay by the State”.
On Day 2, she raged: “I was arrested and chained because NPA Prosecutors wanted me in court at all costs. Now I am struggling to even get a Prosecutor to commit to my trial. Yesterday we started at 14h40 after I contacted Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach to intervene. Hopefully we will start at 9h00 today.”
However, she left the proceeding in a jubilant mood: “Sometimes you just have to give them rope, they will do the job themselves. We are cruising nicely in court, contradictions galore…”
After her next appearance on 25 April, Mashale exclaimed: “I have been through hell and back and I am still standing.”
However, hopes for the delivery of a judgment in her case on 3 July were dashed because the Magistrate had been admitted to hospital. At the time, she stated: “Yes, I’m frustrated, but eventually the truth will prevail”.
Read also:
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High Court orders SAPS to disclose firearms destruction records amid safety concerns
Cameron exposes “horrific” working conditions in SAPS – after another cop killing…
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