Pretoria - A strange tale involving a sangoma unfolded in court when the traditional healer claimed damages from the police and the prosecuting authorities for unlawful arrest, detention and assault.
Emily Baloyi was asked to cleanse firearms said to have been used in a mission to fetch “ghost money”, explained as “gold coins in pots”, she told the court.
Baloyi had earlier turned to the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg after she was awaiting trial in prison for nearly seven years before she and her co-accused Frans Makgopa were acquitted on charges of murder and robbery.
Both were arrested in October 2007 at Baloyi’s home in Ennerdale and only released from jail in July 2014 after they were acquitted.
Makgopa, an informal trader at a nearby train station, also claimed damages against the police for unlawful arrest, detention and assault.
The pair also claimed that their prosecution was based on false statements issued to the court by the SAPS.
Baloyi, a mother of seven, testified that on the day of the arrest she was alone at home with her baby, when there was a knock on the door.
She said Makgopa and a man dressed in civilian clothing, carrying a duvet cover, entered the house.
She was about to ask them what they wanted, when many people, including police officers, burst through the door.
Her baby was crying and she said an officer slapped her in the face and told her to wait outside with the infant.
She was made to sit next to the kitchen door, from where she could see into the house.
The police were emptying containers filled with food on to the ground. They also turned her sofa upside down.
She said restraints were used on her by an unidentified police officer who made her sit under a tree, while people took pictures of her.
Just before dark, she was pulled to her feet and placed in a police vehicle.
She was taken to the Westonaria police station where she was held in the cells overnight.
The next day, while still only clad in her nightdress, she was taken to a police unit in Germiston, where she was told to “speak the truth”.
She had no idea what was going on but was told that she was involved in a murder.
She claimed she was shocked with something until she fainted.
When she came to, she was lying in a puddle of water on the floor.
She was bleeding from her mouth and from her private parts.
Her bail application was unsuccessful and she remained in jail, she said.
According to Baloyi, she met Makgopa the day before her arrest as he came to her to cure him of his insomnia.
But her statement during her bail application, presented by the police to the court, painted another picture.
In that statement, she said men came to her house, looking for a traditional healer who would provide them with muti that would allow them to go and fetch “ghost” money.
The men explained to her that they were referring to “gold Kruger rands which were stored in pots”.
She said she told them she could not assist, but they later returned with a duvet filled with firearms which she had to “cleanse”.
One of the men then hit her on the back of the head with a firearm, telling her that she had no choice; she had to cleanse the firearms.
But, she said in her earlier version, before she could do that the SAPS stormed into her house to look for suspects involved in a murder and robbery and that was how she, too, got arrested.
But in her damages claim, Baloyi denied this version.
Makgopa’s version is that he went to Baloyi’s home for muti for insomnia, but the queue of people waiting for her services was long and he was tired.
He booked his place in the queue and fell asleep.
He woke up when the SAPS raided the house and he was arrested and detained for no reason, along with the others there.
The version of the SAPS is that they received a tip-off that all the suspects were hiding out at a sangoma’s home and that she was involved in a murder they were investigating.
When the officers got to the house, they found the suspects and the firearms, thus to them they had found their culprits.
The court concluded that the SAPS officers only did their job under the circumstances.
“It may be that the plaintiffs were acquitted, but it does not follow that their arrest was unlawful,” the court said in turning down the pair’s claims.
Pretoria News