Home Affairs Minister Malusi Gigaba has been granted leave to appeal a case where he was ordered to pay R750000 to a foreign national for unlawful detention.Christian Emeka Okonkwo was arrested on August 3 2012 despite being in the country legally and having the correct documentation for running his business.
Okonkwo spent 75 days in custody without ever going to court and approached the high court shortly after his release.
He claimed the immigration officer did not have a warrant of arrest or any legal authority to make the arrest. He was arrested in front of his wife and their neighbours.
Okonkwo told the court that while in the holding cells he had been threatened with assault and some awaiting-trial prisoners made attempts to have sex with him. He said the cells smelt of urine and he did not have a bed.
Okonkwo’s arrest strained his relations with his wife to the point that she left him and moved to Cape Town and his child was left in King William’s Town.
Sitting in the East London High Court, Judge Phakamisa Tshiki found that Gigaba and his director-general were liable and ought to pay Okonkwo R750000.
The state decided to take the matter up on appeal and in dealing with the application, Tshiki said Okonkwo was treated unfairly. “They treated him as if he was not protected by the laws of this country and that there is no existing bill of rights provided by a constitution in our country,” Tshiki said.
The state argued that in terms of Tshiki’s R750000 order it was not clear how much was meant to cover “deliberate disrespect” suffered by Okonkwo. He had initially sued the state for more than R1-million of which R400000 was for deliberate disrespect.
Tshiki then agreed that the defendants could appeal. — siyab@dispatch.co.za
Gigaba to appeal R750k order
Christian Emeka Okonkwo was arrested on August 3 2012 despite being in the country legally and having the correct documentation for running his business.
Okonkwo spent 75 days in custody without ever going to court and approached the high court shortly after his release.
He claimed the immigration officer did not have a warrant of arrest or any legal authority to make the arrest. He was arrested in front of his wife and their neighbours.
Okonkwo told the court that while in the holding cells he had been threatened with assault and some awaiting-trial prisoners made attempts to have sex with him. He said the cells smelt of urine and he did not have a bed.
Okonkwo’s arrest strained his relations with his wife to the point that she left him and moved to Cape Town and his child was left in King William’s Town.
Sitting in the East London High Court, Judge Phakamisa Tshiki found that Gigaba and his director-general were liable and ought to pay Okonkwo R750000.
The state decided to take the matter up on appeal and in dealing with the application, Tshiki said Okonkwo was treated unfairly. “They treated him as if he was not protected by the laws of this country and that there is no existing bill of rights provided by a constitution in our country,” Tshiki said.
The state argued that in terms of Tshiki’s R750000 order it was not clear how much was meant to cover “deliberate disrespect” suffered by Okonkwo. He had initially sued the state for more than R1-million of which R400000 was for deliberate disrespect.
Tshiki then agreed that the defendants could appeal. — siyab@dispatch.co.za
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