Prisioners from KwaZulu-Natal could be languishing in jail for crimes they did not commit.
|||Durban - People from KwaZulu-Natal could be in jail for crimes they did not commit, according to a civil rights organisation that has asked the Justice and Police Ministries to conduct a probe.
The call by the Justice for Prisoners and Detainees Trust (JPDT) to review all convictions that arose out of confession statements taken by the now disbanded Cato Manor organised crime unit follows a claim by a prisoner - sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005 for the murder of IFP councillor Thomas Mandla Tshabalala - that he had been wrongly convicted.
Nkosinathi Chiya was convicted after confessing to the murder. The matter was investigated by the Cato Manor unit.
He brought an urgent application for leave to appeal in the Durban High Court on Tuesday.
He wants the court to listen to new evidence that could exonerate him.
The JPDT said on Tuesday that it had reason to believe that investigators from the unit had threatened and tortured suspects into signing confessions.
Derek Mdluli, the trust’s chief executive, said Chiya had contacted him in 2008, after he had been allegedly informed by police that new evidence had come to light that he was not responsible for Tshabalala’s murder.
When asked why he had confessed to the murder, Chiya said he had been assaulted, tortured and threatened at gunpoint by members of the unit.
Soon after Chiya was incarcerated at Westville Prison, members from the former Port Shepstone serious and violent crime unit allegedly visited him in prison.
Mdluli said Chiya was told that a man who had committed suicide had confessed, in a suicide note, to killing Tshabalala.
In the note, Xolani Shobede claimed that he and three others had killed Tshabalala, Mdluli said.
“He said he was tired of living with what he did. He mentioned the names of his three accomplices and encouraged them to speak the truth.”
Shobede then hanged himself.
Mdluli said the information had surfaced five years ago and he accused police of dragging their heels in finalising the investigation.
“We had no choice but to go to the courts to seek relief. This young man has been wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit,” he said.
“The evidence in his favour is overwhelming.”
Chiya was 21 and a final-year chemical engineering student when he was arrested.
“Fortunately this young man did not waste his time in prison. He sought a transfer to a prison in Pretoria to complete his electrical engineering degree. He is due to graduate in a few months,” Mdluli said.
He said that when Chiya was sentenced, his parting words to his mother, Nombuso, was: “Don’t cry or worry… the truth will come out one day.”
Mdluli said: “It seems that day has come. We are wasting no more time. This young man needs to be set free to live his life. We will work night and day to ensure that happens.”
Mdluli said they would be petitioning the justice and police ministers to launch an investigation of the Cato Manor unit before the end of the week.
He said they were representing several prisoners who had come forward in recent months, claiming they had been threatened into signing confessions.
“In my view, only confessions taken by magistrates should be allowed. When criminals claim they are forced to sign confessions at gunpoint, I have a problem with that.”
Mdluli said it was strange that with most of the cases investigated by the unit, particularly murders and armed robberies, suspects either confessed or died in custody.
The Cato Manor unit was disbanded last year after allegations that a “death squad” operated there.
In December, Major-General Jan Mabula, head of the Hawks in North West, was appointed to investigate the allegations, and to date 30 policemen have been arrested. Two have subsequently died.
In the Durban High Court yesterday, Chiya made an urgent application for leave to appeal before Judge Ron McLaren, who adjourned the matter to on Thursday to allow time for the trial records to be manually reconstructed. Chiya was also expected to bring a bail application on Thursday.
Chiya said it had been a tough and painful eight years for him.
“But I am happy that the truth is going to set me free. I cannot wait to return to my home.”
His mother said her faith in God and belief in her son’s innocence had kept her alive.
“Justice must be served now. We have waited long enough. My baby must come home to me.”
Chiya’s girlfriend, Thalu Tshivhase, said she was waiting for Chiya to return home so they could start a life together.
Professor Lindokuhle Mdletshe and advocate William Nicholson have taken on Chiya’s case free of charge.
Nicholson said they had a moral duty to help Chiya.
“Justice has been delayed for eight years. I am confident that he will be out in a month’s time,” he said.
yogas.nair@inl.co.za
Daily News