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Mashudu Netsianda, Senior Court Reporter
A SOUTH African businesswoman whose car was impounded by police after it was intercepted carrying equipment suspected to be for poaching activities, has taken Police Commissioner-General Augustine Chihuri to court seeking the release of the vehicle.
In papers before the court, Ms Khethiwe Nyathi said she had brought her car into the country “for appeasement.”
Ms Nyathi, who originated from Zimbabwe, yesterday filed an urgent chamber application at the Bulawayo High Court citing Comm-Gen Chihuri, the officer in charge of the ZRP Beitbridge Border and Minerals Unit as well as the officer commanding police in Matabeleland South, as the respondents.
She is seeking an order compelling police to immediately release her car, a Gauteng-registered Toyota Fortuner.
The vehicle was impounded by police after it was intercepted at a roadblock along the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Highway for allegedly carrying equipment that was allegedly to be used for poaching activities in June.
The car was being driven by Ms Nyathi’s nephew, Adolf Mpofu, and he was subsequently arrested for possessing a .303 rifle with erased serial numbers fitted with a telescopic sight and a silencer, 23 rounds of live ammunition, an axe, two stainless steel hunters’ knives, a camouflage jacket, three Samsung S4 cellphones, a 50 millilitre Trisol Barrel cleaner, among other items.
Ms Nyathi, in her founding affidavit said there was no need for the police to continue holding onto her car.
She said Mpofu, who appeared before a Beitbridge magistrate, has since been cleared of any charges.
She said police later charged her for obstructing the course of justice when she sent her son a message alerting him that police were looking for him.
Ms Nyathi appeared before the court and she was fined $400 for the offence.
“To demonstrate that even on what I was charged with, there was nothing to do with the vehicle subject to this application. The police continue to hold on to my car despite the finalisation of the court processes against me and Adolf as the driver of the vehicle at the time it was seized,” she argued.
Ms Nyathi said police told her that they were holding the car pending investigations yet the matter has since been finalised.
She also accused police of defying a Beitbridge magistrate court order directing them to release her car.
“I made an ex-parte application at the Beitbridge magistrate’s court for an order for the release of my car and it was granted. Despite serving the respondents (police) with the order, they have failed or neglected to comply, which is clearly a contempt of court. I am therefore approaching this honourable court on an urgent basis since I have acquitted and have no pending criminal trial before me,” said Ms Nyathi.
She said the temporary import permit of the car has expired and there is an impending penalty, which she is supposed to pay to the Zimbabwe Revenue Authority (Zimra).
“The vehicle is under a South African insurance policy issued subject to certain terms and conditions and one of them is that the vehicle cannot be outside the jurisdiction of South Africa for more than a certain period of time.
“The respondents have exhibited a gross disregard for the law by subjecting me to unfair harassment by unnecessarily impounding my car,” said Ms Nyathi.
@Mashnets
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