An Eastern Cape taxi boss is embroiled in a legal standoff with the police after more than 50 high-calibre firearms and ammunition were seized from his East London home and business premises recently.
The confiscation, on January 17, of the weapons belonging to a security company owned by Santaco provincial leader Simphiwe “Gabs” Mtshala has been declared unlawful and unconstitutional by a judge.
Mtshala, who is also the Buffalo City Metro Business Association president, approached the high court in East London on January 29 to have his guns returned, a few days after he had been released on R2,000 bail for the alleged illegal possession of two firearms.
He was arrested after heavily armed police officers from the National Intervention Unit (NIU) allegedly stormed into his home in Vincent and his other premises and confiscated a total of 55 high-calibre firearms, including rifles and shotguns, and ammunition.
The court has since ordered that the confiscated weapons and ammunition be returned to the taxi boss.
The ruling, dated January 30, was handed down after it emerged that the police allegedly had neither a search warrant nor an arrest warrant when they entered Mtshala’s home.
The police, however, deny that the raid was done without proper papers, saying it was conducted legally.
In her ruling, Judge Belinda Hartle declared the confiscation of Mtshala’s firearms, magazines, licences and permit book as unlawful and unconstitutional and ordered the items be immediately returned.
The Dispatch has seen a copy of the court order.
Hartle also interdicted police from conducting any further raids at Mtshala’s premises without adequate documentation or a lawful and valid warrant of arrest or lawful and reasonable suspicion of the commission of any offence.
Mtshala’s attorney, Nqaba Nomvete, said on Friday the firearms had yet to be returned.
“We are told that the firearms have since been sent to Pretoria for ballistic testing. They are refusing to hand them back to my client, as ordered by the court.
“What we will now do is to place them in contempt and enforce the court order via a sheriff in Pretoria,” Nomvete said.
National police spokesperson Brigadier Athlenda Mathe said the raid at Mtshala’s premises, conducted in conjunction with Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSIRA), was done legally.
“The joint raid with PSIRA was conducted legally at the home of a key suspect who is wanted on several cases that are still under investigation.
“Some firearms have been confiscated and taken to ballistics testing for possible links to crimes under investigation.”
Mathe, however, did not respond to questions relating to Hartle’s court order.
The taxi boss’s arrest and court appearance were confirmed by NPA spokesperson Luxolo Tyali.
Mtshala, who was left fighting for his life in hospital after reportedly being shot six times during an ambush in East London in September 2021, said the latest police raid on his home had left him and his family “traumatised, vulnerable, and fearing for my life”.
After the 2021 incident, he opted to open his own security company, Gabs Security Services.
The company now has a number of clients across the province.
In his founding affidavit before court, Mtshala said a heavily armed contingent of police had “forcefully gained entry into my home by using crowbars to break my gates and kicking my doors”.
“They then asked us to lay on the floor and pointed guns towards me, my 80-year-old mother and my domestic worker, while we were all unarmed and posed no danger.
“One of them placed a boot on my mother’s neck, leaving her and our helper traumatised.
“They also vandalised our CCTV system, before demanding that I show them where its recording device was located.
“They then broke my ceiling and confiscated such device, before interfering with some of the cameras in my home,” Mtshala said.
He said he was then ordered to open up a safe where a number of guns were found and confiscated, including two that he could not produce paperwork for at the time.
“Those two guns belonged to my bodyguard and another associate in the security industry, and I was keeping the firearms for them. They both have licences.”
Some of his licensed firearms were confiscated from a strongroom in Chintsa that he had hired for their safekeeping, while others were removed from his security guards working at the Chintsa site.
Mtshala said the day before his arrest, a number of his guns were also confiscated from one of his associates in Butterworth.
“They arrested and charged me for unlawful possession of these two firearms,” he said, referring to the two guns found in his home safe.
Mtshala spent the weekend in jail before being released on bail on the Monday.
“I was arrested for no reason by the NIU in late November, spent a weekend in jail, before I was released without being charged two days later.
“On December 13, I was arrested for alleged attempted murder, which apparently took place while I was in a wheelchair after my 2021 assassination attempt.
“Again, I spent the weekend in jail, before I was released on R10,000 bail on December 18. This case has since been withdrawn by court in January,” Mtshala said.
He told the Dispatch that he believed he was being “specifically targeted”.
Tyali, when asked about the court order and the confiscated firearms, referred queries to the police.
In his court papers, Mtshala also alleged that police had stolen R50,000 from a safe at his home, allegations Mathe denied, saying Mtshala should approach police watchdog Ipid “if there is any truth to that”.
Daily Dispatch
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