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R500,000 damages against KZN military police for ‘humiliating’ 2017 arrest of SANDF officers and civilian

R500,000 damages against KZN military police for ‘humiliating’ 2017 arrest of SANDF officers and civilian
Des Erasmus
By Des Erasmus
9 Aug 2022
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In a second damages claim to go against the police in 10 days, a high court has ruled in favour of two senior Durban-based military officers and a civilian who were placed in leg irons and locked up over unfounded charges. The judge found their treatment had been ‘harsh’ and ‘humiliating’.

The ministers of defence and police have been ordered to pay damages amounting to R500,000 after two high-ranking Durban-based military officers and a civilian who voluntarily played in a military pipe band were subjected to a 48-hour ordeal in 2017, in which they were placed in leg irons and jailed over unfounded charges relating to the wearing of military fatigues. 

The unlawful arrests, according to the court order, exposed how there appears to be no chain of command within the Bluff-based military police, as none of the witnesses or officers who testified could identify who gave the command to arrest and detain the three men.

The order was handed down by Judge Pieter Bezuidenhout on 1 August, after the civil case ended in the high court on 11 April. A separate trial is currently playing out in a military court. 

One of the plaintiffs told Daily Maverick that the trio would not let the matter rest, and that they intended to pursue those who took the decision to execute the arrests.

This is the second damages claim in the past 10 days to go against police for unlawful arrest. In the first, the Gauteng High Court ruled that the police ministry was liable for R500,000 in damages following another 2017 incident in which officers unlawfully arrested and detained Elpacino Maphosa for 26 days on charges of armed robbery.

Military fatigues


The current matter began on 18 November 2017, when the now former commanding officer of the Natal Mounted Rifles, Lt-Col Michael Rowe, now retired regimental shooting officer Capt Nigel Lewis-Walker and his son and regiment band member, Robert, were arrested by the Bluff Military Police and taken to the Brighton police station on trumped-up charges of fraud and corruption for allowing Robert to wear camouflage military fatigues at the base’s Merrivale shooting range.

Rowe produced evidence during the civil trial — which was accepted by Judge Bezuidenhout — showing that he had the authority to allow Robert, who had been a member of the pipe band since 2010, to wear the fatigues during a shooting exercise for reservists and members of the Natal Mounted Rifles. 

The fatigues Robert was wearing belonged to his father, a lifetime soldier and respected Scouts South Africa leader.

“The settlement is totally inappropriate for what we had to endure,” Rowe told Daily Maverick. 

“I was a commanding officer in good standing of 13 years and Captain Lewis-Walker was my armourer; on a recent military audit he obtained 100%. [The arrests were conducted] explicitly to help others get promoted and I was in the way.”

He said the SANDF and SAPS have yet to indicate if they will appeal against the ruling.

“For six days and six nights I did not sleep after that ordeal. It was only on the seventh day, just before I attended my first counselling session, that I got one hour of sleep,” said Rowe.

He said he had spent the past five years of his life piecing together evidence for future legal action.

“I want to get to the truth of this. It is not over yet and we will exhaust all avenues available to us to pursue justice in this matter.”

Judge Bezuidenhout ordered that former defence minister Thandi Modise and police minister Bheki Cele pay damages of R200,000 each to Rowe and Lewis-Walker, and R100,000 to Robert, who has since emigrated to the US because of the incident.

Plaintiffs ‘humiliated’


Bezuidenhout said in his ruling: “The conduct of the members of [the South African National Defence Force Military Police] at the time was harsh in the circumstances. The duration of the incarceration, as well as the humiliating manner in which it was done, must also be considered.  The status of plaintiffs and the standing of plaintiffs in the community, the age and health of plaintiffs, awards in previous comparable cases and the effect upon the good name of plaintiffs must be considered with the high value of the right to physical liberty of each individual.”

Rowe retired after a nearly 40-year military career due to the “humiliation” he endured. Lewis-Walker remained in service until he recently retired.

Bezuidenhout said there was “… no evidence to indicate that there was any possibility of any fraud or corruption on the part of plaintiffs”.

“In the present matter, it must be borne in mind [that Rowe] was the Commanding Officer of the unit and had been for many years, and in the unit he was a person of high standing. [Lewis-Walker] was also a high-ranking officer of the unit and also of good standing. They were respected by members of their unit.

“The humiliating way in which they were arrested and treated, especially having been placed in leg irons when it was totally unnecessary, merits, in my view, substantial damages.  

“As far as [Robert Walker-Lewis] is concerned, he was not a member of the unit and… so may not have been a person of the same standing.  However, he was still kept in custody in leg irons when it was totally unnecessary when there was no indication that he was a flight risk or threat to anyone,” said Bezuidenhout.

‘No need’ for arrests


The judge said that according to the version of events presented to the court by one of the military police officers involved in the arrests, there was no need for the trio to be arrested — instead, they could merely have reported on the Monday.

“There is no evidence that any officer considered all the factors before exercising the discretion to arrest. It is not even clear who in actual fact was responsible for the arrest and the detention. 

“On [the SANDF’s] own version, it is not clear who exactly gave the instruction to detain. As both [the defence and police ministries] defended the action, it appears just and equitable that they should both be liable for the costs.” 



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The arresting military police officer, Capt Arthur Ndlovu, did not testify.

As the civil matter continued, it was revealed that documents pertinent to the case, and in possession of the SA National Defence Force, had “disappeared”.

‘Tip-off’


According to various witness statements, between 30 and 40 members of the Natal Mounted Rifles and Natal Carbineers were at the shooting range when the Bluff military police were “tipped off” that a civilian was wearing army fatigues.

When Captain Ndlovu arrived at the shooting range at about 11am, Rowe informed him that Robert had permission to wear the clothing. However, Robert was arrested, put in the back of a military police van and taken to the military police station where he was placed behind bars.

So haphazard was the ordeal that at some point all the accused were escorted home to change their clothing. Rowe was then publicly arrested outside his home in front of his neighbours.

Disorganised debacle


The arrests were followed by a series of incidents that revealed just how disorganised the entire debacle was. This included ferrying the accused between the military base and the Brighton Beach police station multiple times. At another point, Rowe was left unsupervised at the military base and was handed back his army-issued firearm.

On Sunday at 5am, the trio was taken back to the Brighton police station where they were fingerprinted, put in leg irons and placed in a cell. The men were given filthy blankets to sleep on and received three slices of bread for the duration of their jailing.

On the Monday, Rowe and Lewis-Walker were taken to the military court in Merebank, south of Durban, and Robert was taken to the military base in Pietermaritzburg. They were then transported from those destinations to Howick Magistrates’ Court. The local prosecutor refused to enrol the case and all three were released.

According to the most recent SAPS annual report, between April 2020 and March 2021, the police incurred 10,689 claims — mostly relating to arrest and detention — totalling R16.7-billion.

In total, said the report, SAPS was facing 52,203 active claims amounting to R59.8-billion. KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 26% of all claims, with Gauteng in top spot at 37%.

“A total of 2,899 payments [as a result of] court orders and settlements were made to the value of R367,247,932, of which arrest and detention claims were the highest payouts, [totalling] R239,299,759,” according to the report. DM

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