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- Judge Cassim Sardiwalla last month rubbished Hawks' claims that Mngoma's arrest was linked to a murder plot against her estranged husband, former Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba.
- Hawks argue that Sardiwalla should have found that Mngoma's arrest challenge was non-urgent and dismissed it.
- Mngoma has made representations to the National Prosecuting Authority, in which she argues that the malicious damage to property and crimen injuria case against her should be dropped.
Police Minister Bheki Cele and the Hawks have launched an urgent bid to appeal the Pretoria High Court's finding that the arrest of Norma Mngoma – the estranged wife of former Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba – was unlawful.
They insist that, at best for Mngoma, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria may have found that the decision by Mpumalanga Hawks officers to apply for an arrest warrant against Mngoma. "... may have been irrational in the prevailing circumstance".
In appeal papers lodged at court on 4 March, lawyers for Cele, the Hawks, and the officers embroiled in Mngoma's controversial arrest for allegedly trashing a luxury car that belongs to a friend of her husbands seek to appeal the ruling given against them last month by Judge Cassim Sardiwalla.
They insist that the case bought by Mngoma was not urgent and should have been dismissed out of hand on that basis.
Sardiwalla found that the decisions by Mpumalanga Hawks Captain Kenneth Mavuso and Sergeant Norton Ndabami to both apply for and execute a warrant for Mngoma's arrest in July 2020 were unlawful – and ordered that all the information they had obtained from her devices after they had unlawfully seized them must be restored to her.
The judge also found that Gigaba had abused his power by getting the Hawks to arrest Mngoma for allegedly trashing his friend's car – in order to intimidate her.
"It appears in this matter that the arresting officers abused their powers and positions as members of the Hawks presumably to avenge a wrong or perceived wrong as complained and alleged by Mr Gigaba and not for any lawful purpose… The warrant [for Mngoma's arrest] was obtained for an ulterior purpose," Sardiwalla ruled.
READ | Norma Mngoba 'vindicated' after court declares case 'unlawful'
"It is clear that this in fact is a domestic dispute between two prominent members of society, however the offences are not deserving of the high priority of the Hawks and the involvement of the Hawks itself speaks to the abuse of power by Mr Gigaba as a former minister in using the State administration for his own personal benefit with the intention to intimidate his wife in a domestic spat."
Appeal
In their appeal application, lawyers for the Hawks and Cele reiterate that, "... the decision to execute a lawful warrant of arrest is not unlawful and that at best a court may find that the decision to execute it rather than issue a summons for [Mngoma] to appear in court may have been irrational in the prevailing circumstance".
They further insist that Sardiwalla did not have the power to order the Hawks to return all the information they had seized from Mngoma's devices – some of which she claims was deleted by the authorities. They maintain that any challenge to the legality of the seizure of the devices, which was done without a search warrant, needs to be determined by the court that will try Mngoma for malicious damage to property and crimen injuria.
Mngoma has previously slammed the Hawks for suggesting she was arrested for allegedly trashing a R3 million black Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG "G-Wagon" during a dispute with her husband and sending an insulting WhatsApp message to his close friend Peterson Siyaya because officers were told these charges "may be linked" to an alleged conspiracy to murder Gigaba.
Sardiwalla backed her up in his ruling, after finding there was, "... no evidence before this court that there is or was a conspiracy to commit murder against Mr Gigaba or how, if at all, [Mngoma] is connected to this offence".
Sardiwalla said the Hawks had failed to provide any information that would justify arresting Mngoma in the first place, as her whereabouts were known, and she had cooperated with the authorities.
"I am satisfied that the evidence before me demonstrates that [Mavuso and Ndabami] acted with malice, in that their actions appeared to have been motivated by an abuse of power by a former minister and member of the executive. There is no evidence that an investigation was conducted regarding a conspiracy to commit murder of Mr Gigaba and [the Hawks] have failed to give any evidence or gainsay [Mngoma's] version."
A date for the hearing of the Hawks' appeal application has yet to be set.
