A Johannesburg High Court judge has ordered SAPS to pay a staggering R900,000 payment to a man who endured nearly 16 months behind bars for a crime he did not commit. The ruling delivers a searing indictment against the South African Police Service for a litany of failures, from a brutal arrest to a forced confession.
The nightmare for Joseph Bekizitha Dube began on 30 October 2017, when he was taken into custody at the Alexandra police station. Accused of stealing a firearm from his employer, a private security firm, Dube’s world was about to collapse. He testified in court that officers subjected him to a vicious assault, torturing him until he agreed to sign a pre-written confession. Judge Shaida Mahomed, summarising the evidence, stated,
“He signed a statement which the police prepared, he maintained he was forced to sign it.”
The consequences of that day spiralled wildly. Dube was recorded on the charge sheet as a Zimbabwean national, a fundamental error the police never bothered to correct, despite him being a South African citizen. He was remanded in custody at the Johannesburg Prison, where he would remain from 31 October 2017 until his eventual release on 26 March 2019, after the charges were dropped due to a complete lack of evidence.
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During this time, he suffered immensely, stating he was so poorly treated that he had to buy his own mattress. He was forced to sell his car to support his family and, in a heart-wrenching personal loss, missed the entire first year of his fifth child’s life. He said,
“He left home one morning to earn a living to support his family and never returned for over a year. Nothing positive happened for him despite his numerous efforts to persuade the investigating officer of his innocence, throughout his stay in prison.”
SAPS Ordered To Pay An Innocent Man Over Wrongful Arrest
This case is not an isolated incident but rather a symptom of a systemic and costly crisis within the police service. The SAPS’s own 2023/24 annual report reveals a staggering picture of civil claims. It shows that the police made 6,381 payments for court orders and settlements, totalling R617 million. The lion’s share of this, a colossal R541 million (approximately US$28.3 million), was for claims related to arrest and detention.
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Furthermore, the report disclosed that a daunting 15,139 new civil claims were registered against the police in that financial year alone, with a combined value of R21 billion. While this figure represents a contingent liability rather than a final payout, it underscores the immense financial burden and the sheer volume of alleged misconduct cases the service is facing. For Hector Britts, the nearly R1 million award is a hard-won vindication, but it also highlights a justice system where compensation is often the only recourse for lives torn apart by error and malpractice.
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