Mr Prince Manzere (38) of Mutshenzheni, near Dzimauli, is an angry man. A messenger of the court, Manzere says his anger is fuelled by the fact that he received shoddy treatment from members of the Makuya SAPS.

He said the police wasted his precious time by taking him to the police station, where he spent two hours and then released him without charging him.

Manzere says he was on his way to deliver official documents at Exxaro Tshikindeni Mine on Monday. "When we approached the Sanari T-junction, we found police on the road, but they never stopped us. We then stopped our car because we wanted to speak to someone we know on the other side of the road."

Manzere said the problem started when they were about to pull off. "One of the police officers reprimanded us, asking why we were pulling off before they could attend to us. I told him we were not stopped by the police and we were pulling off for another reason. The police officers then told me that they were arresting me for interference with their duties."

He said they then ordered him to get into the police van and he was driven to Makuya Police Station. "We went to the office and we spent more than two hours deliberating about the issue. I told them they had better charge me because they had already arrested me, but they later released me without charging me. I felt that they wasted my time because I was not able to finish my official duties of the day. I believe that they treated me unfairly, and I will obviously take legal action against them."

On the other hand, Insp Mashudu Madida of the Makuya SAPS is singing a different tune. He denies Manzere’s allegation and labelled him as someone seeking cheap publicity through the media. "This man was a passenger in a car when they came across police roadblock at Sanari. We stopped the car but the driver ignored us and passed through other cars that were being searched. Fortunately, other police officers were able to block the car and it stopped. We asked the driver why he had ignored us, and he asked for forgiveness in a peaceful manner. He was only issued with a ticket because he did not buckle up his seatbelt. After issuing the ticket to the driver, Manzere became more aggressive and reprimanded the police officers for doing their job. He uttered vulgar words to the police officers and disturbed the roadblock. We had no other alternative but to arrest him for interfering with the police on duty."

Madida said it is a surprise that Manzere was supposedly kept for more than two hours in the police station. "He spent less than 30 minutes there after he confessed that what he did was wrong. He also signed a confession in our occurrence book and told us that he would never do it again. He was so cooperative that we decided to let him go. We are very surprised to learn that he has taken up the matter to the media, whilst distorting the true facts of the matter."