A South African citizen who was acquitted on charges that he tried to smuggle 12 San men out of Namibia has won a lawsuit he instituted against the prosecutor general in the Supreme Court.

After Pieter Hendrik Groenewald and his then-fiancé Elsie Greef were acquitted on charges of trafficking in persons in the Rundu District Court, they instituted a lawsuit for damages suffered as a result of unlawful arrest and malicious prosecution.

However, the High Court only awarded Greef damages and dismissed Groenewald’s claim. Not satisfied, he appealed that decision to the Supreme Court.

Yesterday, Chief Justice Peter Shivute with Deputy Chief Justice Petrus Damaseb and Appeal Judge Elton Hoff upheld his appeal and awarded him N$100 000.65 and N$50 000 for malicious prosecution and ordered that the prosecutor general’s office should pay the damages plus 20% interest from the date of the judgment until the money is paid in full.

They also awarded him 50% of his legal fees, including one instructing and one instructed lawyer. Judge Shivute, who wrote the appeal with judges Damaseb and Hoff concurring, found that after the complainants—the 12 San men—recognised their allegations of exploitation and explained that their explanation was wrongly interpreted by the person who took down their statements, the prosecution should have been stopped immediately, or alternatively, the State should have closed its case.

However, the judges found the initial arrest and prosecution were within the ambit of the police and the PG, and they found in favour of the latter.

“The content of the docket at the disposal of the prosecutor who made the decision to prosecute shows that there was reasonable and probable cause for the appellant’s prosecution as the statements in the docket disclosed the essential elements of the offence of trafficking in persons,” Judge Shivute stated.

However, he said, once the appellant discharged the burden of establishing that the witnesses who recanted their evidence told the prosecutor during consultations that the allegations they made against the appellant were wrong, the prosecutor had the duty to stop the prosecution.

In fact, the judges said, once the witnesses had recanted their evidence, there was no evidence from another source implicating the appellant. 

Groenewald, a former South African Defence Force colonel, was arrested together with his fiancée in April 2013, after they were caught transporting 12 San men from the Bwabwata National Park.

He told New Era at the time that he had no intentions of illegally transporting the men from the Khwe community from the Omega Area to South Africa to exploit them as game rangers, but to employ them with decent wages. Advocate Albert Strydom represented Groenewald, and Sisa Namandje represented the State. -rrouth@nepc.com.na