Councillor to get R500 000 from police
The Minister of Police is liable for the damage suffered by a North West ward councillor whose house was burnt down by an angry mob.
|||Pretoria - The Minister of Police is 100 percent liable for the damage suffered by a North West ward councillor whose house was burnt down by an angry mob, in spite of her asking the police to keep an eye on her property.
Meriam Leepile claimed R500 000 in damages in the high court in Pretoria from the police. She said the minister should be held vicariously liable for the damages arising from the burning of her home in June 2012 by members of the community during service delivery protests.
She said she believed fully that the police would protect her property after she told them she had received threats and they promised to patrol the area.
Leepile was a ward councillor in Mahikeng and also a member of the mayoral committee on public safety and security.
A lack of electricity in the area sparked the protests.
Leepile said she told top-ranking officials of the SAPS that the community had threatened to burn down the homes of 14 ward councillors in the area. She also gave the commander of public order policing details of the people who were making these threats.
Leepile said she was satisfied at the time that she had done everything in her power to be protected and she believed in the police.
It never occurred to her to obtain VIP protection from the SAPS or from the municipality.
On June 12, 2012 she was held hostage during a meeting where she was giving the community feedback about the electricity situation. The police sent officers to rescue her.
Leepile was at work the next day, when she received a call from a neighbour that her house was on fire. At the time there were no police guarding her home or patrolling the area.
A colonel in the SAPS confirmed that he had received information regarding the threats to burn councillors’ houses. However, he admitted he never gave this information to the SAPS members who were supposed to patrol the area that day.
Other members of the SAPS testified that they were trying to get the protesters under control that day, but they never checked on the homes of the councillors, as no one had told them to.
The commander of the Mahikeng crime intelligence unit said that while he told other commanders there were threats to burn down the homes of councillors, he did nothing as “it was not the unit’s responsibility to guard houses”.
Acting Judge D Mogotsi said among others, the role of the police is to maintain law and order and to prevent crime. It has a constitutional duty to protect the public and especially women.
He said there is not even “a shred” of evidence to suggest that “even the slightest step” was taken to monitor Leepile’s property.
The judge added that even counsel acting for the minister conceded that they had no defence.
Her lawyer, Tim Vlok, said this case again proved that the police have a duty towards citizens of this country and if they failed in their duty, they should be brought to book.
zelda.venter@inl.co.za
Pretoria News