Shallow win for vindicated resident

A SOMERSET Park resident, Phumelela Mathenjwa (25), is still reeling in shock five years after he was wrongfully arrested and detained by police in uMhlanga.

The young entertainer said that he had suffered emotional and physical trauma as well as embarrassment that day, and has yet to come to terms with the incident.

Mathenjwa, a former Northwood School pupil, was compensated with R50 000 after he won a damages claim against the Minister of Police last year, but said he feels dissatisfied with the justice system. The funds owed to Mathenjwa were only paid to him two weeks ago.

“I still have not received any explanation or apology. My life was ruined that day, and I still feel like I haven’t gotten the closure that I need to move on. I want to know why I was targeted, arrested and treated so poorly,” he said.

Mathenjwa’s horrifying ordeal began on the evening of 10 March, 2010, while he was jogging on Umhlanga Rocks Drive.

While wearing his MP3 player earphones and kneeling down to tie his shoe laces, Mathenjwa was unaware of the two policemen who were approaching him on the sidewalk.

“They yanked my earphones from my ears and pointed their guns in my face. They shouted at me and demanded to know what I was doing there and where I lived. I was shocked and caught completely unaware. I asked for their names, but I did not get an answer,” he said.

At this point they were joined by two additional policemen, who were equally hostile. They also began interrogating Mathenjwa, who had become disgruntled by the berating officers.

Before forcing him into a police van, one of the officers slapped Mathenjwa in the face. “I admit that I had a bit of an attitude, but I knew that I had done nothing wrong and they weren’t giving me any answers or an opportunity to defend myself,” he said.

They took the resident to the Durban North Police station where a female police officer tauntingly told him that they had DVD surveillance of him ‘committing a smash and grab’, and that they would link him to dozens of other similar incidents from Durban North to Phoenix.

“They refused to show me the surveillance, and I eventually had to trade my name for my ‘phone call’, which I made to my mother,” he said.

After the phone call Mathenjwa was transported to CR Swart Police Station, where he was detained overnight. “It was disgusting. There were cockroaches everywhere. I paced up and down and could not sleep. I thought I was going to lose my mind.
“There was faeces smeared on the walls, and a constant smell of urine,” he said.

Only the next day was the former AFDA graduate allowed to speak to an inspector, who once again told him about the DVD footage. “They told me that I was going to be charged and locked away. I pleaded to see the footage, but they refused,” he said.

During his stay at CR Swart, Mathenjwa was also subjected to a line-up and was fingered as a suspect in another incident in Umlazi. “It was the most humiliating and degrading thing I have ever experienced. The worst part was when I was singled out as the suspect, and then photographed and processed by the police,” said Mathenjwa.

Later that day he was escorted back to the inspector, who informed him that the DVD footage was ‘too fuzzy’ and that he would be released at 4pm. “I saw light at the end of the tunnel. But I had to wait until 9pm to be released. It was such a relief to finally be able to go home,” he said.

The celebrations were short-lived, as Mathenjwa soon realised that he wasn’t coping well with his ordeal. “My mother said I looked like a zombie for the first week after the incident. I become paranoid and did not sleep,” he said.

Mathenjwa added that the incident has also changed his outlook on life, saying, “I always believed that if you worked hard and followed the rules you would be okay, but it seems that even that is not enough.”