Calls to cancel police whistleblower’s arrest warrant dismissed

The National Prosecuting Authority has disputed Free State police whistle-blower Patricia Morgan-Mashale’s claims that an arrest warrant had essentially forced her to flee the country has been withdrawn.

In fact, spokesperson in the Free State, Phaladi Shuping, said the whistleblower was supposed to appear in the court on 3 March.

“She did not come to court and a warrant was issued for her arrest and the case was postponed for her tracing,” he said.

Morgan-Mashaler is facing charges of violating a Protection Order obtained by deputy provincial police commissioner Major-General Thabang Lesia, one of the senior police officers she allegedly blew the whistle on.

Fearing for her life

In February, the fearful whistleblower refused to come out of hiding to appear in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court, with her lawyer appearing on her behalf.

A previous magistrate appeared sympathetic to her plight, but that ended when a new magistrate took over the matter, and issued an arrest warrant when Morgan-Mashale failed to arrive in court earlier this month.

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Morgan-Mashale then fled the country, after the new magistrate apparently failed consider her fears of being killed or assassinated while attending court proceedings.

“I will be in court [this] week. Apparently, the magistrate who issued the warrant of arrest said she was not aware of my situation, which is a blatant lie because she was made aware of my situation, but she made an influenced decision and didn’t care about the repercussions for me. Would she have said the same thing when I was killed in detention and no longer there to defend myself?” she said in a text message.

Persecution, not prosecution  

According to the whistleblower, Lesia accused her of spreading false allegations of corruption against him and implicating him in protected disclosures to then police commissioner General Khehla Sitole. The senior officer then opened a case against her on 30 August 2021.

Morgan-Mashale, a former Saps administration clerk, said she was subsequently accosted by two officers in her office and her personal cellphone was seized.

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The whistleblower believes her prosecution is malicious and that she was being persecuted for blowing the whistle on corruption.

Human rights activist Mary de Haas has written to the chief magistrate and the office of Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, asking they investigate the circumstances under which the warrant for the whistleblower’s arrest was issued.

She says the investigation must particularly establish why a warrant was issued for a law-abiding woman under a death threat from police who would ultimately execute the warrant in the first place.

Cancel warrant of arrest

“Immediately cancel this warrant so that she does not have to fear police using it as a justification to take her away and kill her,” De Haas said in the letter that The Citizen has seen.

In her report on Morgan-Mashale’s plight, De Haas stated being hiding for over a year has taken a serious toll on Patricia Morgan-Mashale health, emotional and financial wellbeing.

“She has always been a devoted mother, ever-present for the [her] children, who range in age of adulthood to an eleven-year-old son. The rights of this child, especially, have been seriously violated by Saps management and our government executive – caring naught for our Constitution – do nothing to stop it,” she charged.

In January, The Citizen reported how Morgan-Mashale claimed she would be dead today if it were not for efforts of a lone crime intelligence officer who risked his own career to protect her.

The whistleblower claims her nightmare began in 2020 after reporting senior police officers for alleged corruption related to unlawful appointments, including the appointment of foreign nationals in crime intelligence, and irregular promotions.

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