INLSA
Suspended Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysens, first row, second from left, and his 27 co-accused, who face charges of murder and racketeering, appeared briefly in the Durban Magistrates Court. Picture: Gcina Ndwalane
Durban – The “Cato Manor 28” – the suspended policemen who are facing charges of racketeering and murder relating to alleged death squad activities – will soon launch a court challenge to compel the state to pay for their legal fees to fight their case.
The policemen cite the corruption case of former police commissioner Jackie Selebi as one example of the state coughing up for legal fees before.
Their lawyer Carl van der Merwe confirmed on Thursday that the police and the State attorney had turned down their applications for legal assistance. “We will have to bring a court application for financial assistance within a month,” Van der Merwe said.
It is believed the men’s application was turned down even though the police legal services offices in Durban had recommended they be given assistance, suggesting payback, in the event of their being convicted, was guaranteed through their pensions.
The men, including suspended provincial Hawks head Major-General Johan Booysen, made another appearance in the Durban High Court on Thursday when prosecutor Sello Maema placed on record that the State had now handed over all evidential material, barring one statement, to the accused.
This statement, he said, had to be channelled through the “International Relations Act”.
While it could not be officially confirmed, it is believed the statement has not yet been procured but is intended from Greek national and Booysens’s former friend Aristides Danikas who worked as a police reservist for 10 years.
He claimed to reporters last year that he had evidence of alleged atrocities perpetrated by the now-disbanded unit, although the main incident he referred to is not part of the present indictment, which has been deemed the final one by the prosecution.
Danikas left South Africa three years ago. He told The Mercury’s sister paper, the Daily News, that he would not return to South Africa to testify but would be willing to give evidence via satellite. Van der Merwe also confirmed to The Mercury that he had now also been handed the outstanding statement of Colonel Rajen Aiyer, the former commander of the Cato Manor unit.
On Thursday, acting Judge Thomas Ncube adjourned the case provisionally until November 18. The matter cannot be set down for trial until the legal fees issue is sorted out and a case launched by Booysen to set aside the decision to charge them with racketeering is finally heard – which could take many more months.
Booysen, in the application launched last week, wants an order declaring invalid a decision by the acting National Director of Public Prosecutions to authorise the racketeering charges, claiming it was an abuse and either a result of lies or pressure from others who wanted to stop him from doing his job.
The respondents have until about the end of this month to file a notice of opposition and then at least another month to file full papers.
The men have secured a court victory in having the search warrants used to “generally ransack” their homes on the day of their arrests, set aside, after the Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa, conceded they were unlawful.
tania.broughton@inl.co.za
The Mercury
