The arrest of a white suspect in connection with the controversial painting of the statue of Makhado in September this year has put a serious question mark over the police’s political motives in detaining the suspect without charging him and refusing him legal representation.

From the start, the case was highly politicised, with government playing the race card. The case bared a strong resemblance to the former apartheid era where persons were detained for extended periods of time without being charged or being given the opportunity to appear in court.

The suspect, the 24-year-old Dieter Venter from Potchefstroom, was arrested on Thursday afternoon, November 17, after which he was moved to Dzanani, where he was locked up. The police refused Mr Venter legal representation and also refused his legal representative the opportunity to bring an urgent bail application. Shortly after Mr Venter’s arrest, Senior Superintendent Mojapelo from the police’s provincial communications office in Polokwane confirmed the arrest, stating that Mr Venter was to appear in court on Friday morning.

Upon enquiry Friday morning, Mr Venter’s legal representative, Dr Suwil Rudolph, was informed that he was being denied access and that the suspect would not be brought to court “as the police can hold him for 24 hours”. This in effect meant that the police were pushing to have Mr Venter locked up for the weekend as the courts do not sit over weekends.

The police continued to refuse Dr Rudolph the opportunity to see his client. When Dr Rudolph pointed out that the police are infringing Mr Venter’s constitutional right to legal representation and a court appearance, the police stated that they know they are infringing Mr Venter’s rights, but that Dr Rudolph would obstruct their investigation if they allowed him to see his client.

Dr Rudolph then took the matter to a higher authority, later being granted the opportunity to visit his client by a senior police commissioner. Despite this, local police still continued in their efforts to prevent Dr Rudolph from seeing his client. He was told to contact the investigating officer in the case. First he could not reach the said officer and later he was informed by the local station commander that the investigating officer was still questioning Mr Venter and that Dr Rudolph could not see him.

Dr Rudolph, with family members of Mr Venter, then drove to the police station at Dzanani. This was at about 13:00 on Friday. Once there, the police again had to obtain instructions before Dr Rudolph could see his client.

By this time, Mr Venter was finally scheduled to appear in court. At 15:00, the family members left for the magistrate’s court in Louis Trichardt. They were prohibited from travelling with the police vehicle transporting Mr Venter. At 15:40, there was still no sign of Mr Venter at the court. At 15:50, Dr Rudolph again inquired as to the whereabouts of his client and at 16:10, the police finally delivered Mr Venter to court. In the meantime, the mayor of the Makhado Municipality, Cllr Rhulani Nkuzana, and other ANC officials lodged an urgent written appeal asking that the magistrate and prosecutor recuse themselves from the case. They demanded that a “neutral” magistrate and prosecutor be appointed and also strongly opposed any bail granted to Mr Venter.

During Mr Venter’s court appearance, the case against him was, however, withdrawn due to a lack of evidence. Apparently he had jokingly remarked during a church braai that he was the painter of the statue. He was subsequently released.

“I can understand that this might be an emotional case for some of our residents, but one must not lose sight of the fact that, legally, the painting of the statue is not a serious offence – certainly not reason enough to lock someone up, denying him access to his lawyer and refusing to take him to court for a bail application,” Dr Rudolph said on Tuesday. He added that, although he does not have a problem with the police’s arresting a suspect, he does have a problem when the police deny such a person his constitutional rights.

“You cannot correct something that is wrong by doing another wrong. You will only stir more emotion,” Dr Rudolph said. He urged all parties involved in the matter to handle the matter with caution.

Dr Rudolph said that they will definitely take civil action against the police with regard to the unlawful arrest and detention of Mr Venter.

“The police’s actions in this case speaks for themselves. Would they have acted the same if somebody had laid a charge against the persons responsible for removing the statue of Louis Trichardt from the Civic Centre? This action remains criminal in terms of the National Heritage Act,” Dr Rudolph concluded.