Minister says back-up was needed to apprehend journalist

The police were forced to call for back-up in the arrest of Sunday Times journalist Mzilikazi wa Afrika because he resisted. This is according to Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa, answering questions in Parliament yesterday.

Wa Afrika was arrested at the Avusa head office in Rosebank, Johannesburg, last month. He was then driven to Mpumalanga, where he was kept in police holding cells before appearing in court two days later. Police officers sent to arrest him were involved in a screaming match with senior editors about whether photographers could take pictures of the arrest.

DA police spokesman Dianne Kohler Barnard asked why it was necessary to send 20 police officers to arrest Wa Afrika. Mthethwa said two police officers from Rosebank police station, sent to the Avusa offices to locate Wa Afrika, had to call for back-up because they were being prevented from making the arrest. "I hope you'll agree with me that nobody is allowed to obstruct that particular process," he said.

Mthethwa's version has been disputed by Sunday Times editor Ray Hartley, who said Wa Afrika was on his way to hand himself over at the Rosebank police station when he was so dramatically arrested. "That's fictitious. It is totally untrue. There was no resistance to the arrest," Hartley said. Mthethwa said the investigating officer from Mpumalanga had been forced to wait for more than two hours at Rosebank police station for Wa Afrika to hand himself over as promised. "When the suspect failed to present himself to the investigating officer, two other officers proceeded in one vehicle to the place of this person's work," he said. "At the place of work, a commotion broke out and other vehicles were dispatched to establish the problem."

Mthethwa said that though the government had agreed with the SA National Editors' Forum that journalists should not be arrested for doing their work, the agreement did not cover journalists who were accused of fraud.

Wa Afrika and his co-accused, Victor Mimi, appeared in court in Nelspruit on charges of fraud and defeating the ends of justice. They were each granted bail of R5 000. The reporter's arrest was only days after he co-wrote a story on a document allegedly signed by national police commissioner Bheki Cele relating to a R500-million lease on new police HQ in Pretoria. The arrest is also said to relate to a fax of what the police claim is a fraudulent letter of resignation purportedly written by Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza.

Source: Times Live