THE INVESTIGATIONS: A FORENSIC RECORD OF ABUSE, IMPUNITY, AND STATE-ENABLED CRIMINALITY
⚖️ INVESTIGATIONS & JUSTICE: THE REASON THIS SITE EXISTS
If South Africa’s oversight systems had worked — if the structures designed to uphold law and order, investigate abuse, and hold public power to account had functioned as they should — this website would never have been necessary. .... But they didn’t.
The agencies tasked with safeguarding rights, enforcing justice, regulating corruption, and ensuring basic accountability all failed. And in that void, where every formal avenue was exhausted or ignored, the only remaining option was to take this story directly to the public.
This page sits at the centre of that mission. It doesn’t just document wrongdoing — it confronts the question that lies beneath it all:
What happens when those responsible for investigating abuse are the very ones failing to act?
What follows is not speculative. It is a structured record of fact:
• What was reported
• Who was asked to intervene
• Who acted
• Who remained silent
• And what that silence now makes clear
While much of this site focuses on direct criminal abuses — unlawful arrests, illegal raids, procedural sabotage — not all failures came from the police. Some came from other institutions whose job is to protect the public record. Among the most urgent investigations still outstanding is the complaint currently before the South African Press Council regarding the conduct of Media24. That matter belongs here too. Because truth suppression by omission is no less damaging than suppression by force.
This page sets the scope for everything that follows. The reports. The inaction. The rare exceptions. And above all: the real and very present danger that continues un-investigated.
⚖️ SYSTEMIC FAILURES THAT HAVE REWARDED CRIMES & CORRUPTION
As things stand today, not one of those responsible has been held to account.
The police officers remain in uniform — some even promoted. The private investigators continue to operate unchecked. Those who orchestrated and benefited from this campaign walk free, enjoying the profits of what was taken. Meanwhile, I remain trapped in visa limbo, unable to return to the UK, unable to work, unable to rebuild. My name has been smeared, my reputation reduced to the false narrative scripted by Wouter de Swardt and his client — then repeated, word for word, by Media24.
The system hasn’t just failed. It has rewarded those who corrupted it — and punished the person who dared to call it what it is.
1. What Demands Investigation
The events documented across this site are not theoretical, secondhand, or hypothetical. They happened to me. I was unlawfully arrested. I was detained without cause. My home was raided using invalid warrants. I was held for nearly a week without being brought before a court. And I was targeted — repeatedly — through deliberate, coordinated abuses of law by those sworn to uphold it.
This is not about a single officer making a mistake. It is about a system that facilitated and protected criminal conduct. It is about what happens when the full machinery of the state is used not for justice, but as a weapon of retaliation — on behalf of private individuals who engineered the entire process.
These are the actions that demand investigation:
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I was arrested without a warrant and without prosecutorial authority.
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I was detained far beyond the 48-hour limit, with SAPS fabricating delays and withholding information.
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My home was raided using a procedurally invalid seizure warrant — and later, a second, secret raid was carried out at a separate property, off the record, while I remained in custody.
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Documents critical to my defence were seized, concealed, or never returned.
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Other individuals around me were targeted — not because they committed any offence, but as a tactic of coercion and intimidation.
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I was denied access to charge sheets, disclosure, and even basic legal rights throughout.
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Those responsible acted with total impunity — and remain in positions of authority, unaccountable and uninvestigated.
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And behind it all: private individuals who orchestrated the entire campaign, directing arrests and searches as though SAPS were a private security force for hire.
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Finally, the damage was deepened and legitimised by Media24, whose publications repeated a knowingly false narrative, and whose conduct now forms the subject of a formal complaint before the South African Press Council.
These are not “allegations.” This is what happened. It has been laid out, documented, cross-referenced, and submitted. The only thing missing is a proper investigation — and that absence speaks volumes.
Every claim I’ve made is backed by evidence. I do not make accusations I cannot prove. I would not waste my time — or anyone else’s — if I couldn’t substantiate what I’ve said. But unless someone is willing to take this seriously, to confront what is not an easy task, my efforts — no matter how thorough — will remain unheard, and justice will remain undone.
FACT FILES: EXPOSING THE LIES, REVEALING THE TRUTH
This wasn’t one unlawful arrest. It was a sustained, coordinated operation to weaponise state power on behalf of private individuals — carried out through four separate illegal arrests of three different people, all conducted without valid warrants or prosecutorial authority. It included three unlawful detentions, two of them in Pollsmoor Prison for months at a time, and three separate attempts to sabotage bail applications through fabricated charges and procedural obstruction.
There were six malicious prosecutions, built on more than a dozen bogus charges, all designed to overwhelm and incarcerate. The state revoked bail that had already been granted. I was held for a week at a time in police cells without being brought before a court — a direct violation of the 48-hour rule enshrined in South African law.
The charges were never the real aim. The goal was displacement and silencing. My home was raided. My equipment was seized — and never returned. My personal property, refurbishment investments, artwork, jewellery, electronics — everything I owned — was taken or withheld. Over twenty separate illegal evictions and attempted evictions were carried out, often disguised as arrests. Even my passport was stolen, then retained, to prevent me from extending my visa.
Both raids — one at my home, another at Leirmans Road — were executed using invalid or entirely undocumented seizure warrants. One was never recorded at all. The second raid took place while I was still in custody, carried out entirely off the SAPS record, and used to seize keys and hand over property to the very individuals who initiated the campaign.
In total, I documented over 300 individual criminal offences committed across the operation. These were not procedural missteps. They were not regulatory grey areas. These were calculated violations of law, engineered to destroy reputations, seize assets, and cripple the ability to defend. And to this day — not a single one has been formally investigated.
2. The Aims of This Page
This page, and in many ways this website, exists for one reason: to draw a line between evidence and accountability. Every document linked, every submission described, every unanswered letter catalogued here is part of a clear public record — a record that demands recognition not just by readers, but by institutions that have so far refused to act.
This is not a page for commentary. It is a forensic index of what has — and hasn’t — been done.
The aims of this age are threefold, and the aims in general are detailed further down:
1. To catalogue exactly what has been reported — to which agency, through what channel, and on what basis. There can be no ambiguity about what was raised or how clearly it was presented.
2. To track institutional response (or absence thereof). Which agencies replied. Which ones acted. Which ones ignored everything — including those tasked by law to investigate misconduct.
3. To assert what must still happen. This page does not serve closure. It serves notice: that the matters documented here remain uninvestigated, unresolved, and unacceptable.
Whether the issue is police criminality, media misinformation, or regulatory indifference, the core demand is the same: Investigation. Accountability. Consequence.
FACT FILES: EXPOSING THE LIES, REVEALING THE TRUTH
In South Africa, formal submission is not the beginning of a process — it’s often the end of it. Agencies routinely acknowledge receipt but never act. Others don’t reply at all.
Even when complaints are detailed, paginated, and supported by evidence, no statutory guarantee of investigation exists.
The legal system makes provision for accountability — but the institutions executing it are under no real obligation to follow through. What gets attention is not what is most credible, but what is most convenient to ignore.
The Aims As A Whole
In terms of my aims, the reams of reading material can be summarized as per the attached table. There are six main aims of 1) investigating investigations into the corruption and criminality of those involved, in particular the SAPS officers, SAPS uits and the private investigator WDS, 2) address my inability to report the crimes and have them investigation, 3) normalizing my visa/immigration status, 4) the return of my illegally held equipment, 5) replacing the current false public narrative with the truth, and 6) litigation against those responsible for causing the harm, losses and damage.
If nothing else for the moment, the decision by PSIRA, should provide significant credibility to my allegations. I am conscious that until now I have been at a distinct disadvantage, as a result of Mr de Swardt having entirely dominated the narrative with the fabricated articles, as well as the trumped-up charges. This outcome will show, as the facts and the evidence always have, that my account is accurate
Instigating Investigations Into The Corruption And Criminality
I started the process of trying to have investigations into those responsible for the campaign, in particular Serg Stebens,, Serg Duna, Belville Commercial and Hitu Bay, back in April, a little while after I got bail. As mentioned, PSIRA were very professional and having concluded their investigation are pushing for criminal charges. IPID were terrible, and never replied to any of the emails or the completed complaints forms.
So I am hugely encouraged and very grateful for your investigation. And as suggested, now that I have finished the report on Serg Stebens I will go to the Western cape Police Ombudsman and hopefully they can investigate the extensive crimes and corruption.
Having invested a year and a half of my life into this project, it is very important those responsible are prosecuted for their crimes.
Ability To Report The Crimes
I was arrested without warning or reason and detained unjustifiably. This effectively removed me from my home, business, and possessions, creating chaos and what I can only describe as a free-for-all. The arrest was so dramatic that it suggested serious charges and implied I wouldn’t return soon. Keith Broad, Paula Disberry, de Swardt, and Serg Stevens capitalized on this, leading everyone to believe I would be gone for years. During my imprisonment, landlords stole not just my home, properties, and income, but also all of my property contents, possessions, furnishings, artwork, books, clothes, accessories, and even my clothes.
Encouraged by the same people, others took full advantage. Jess, the dog trainer, took my three dogs under the pretence of caring for them, agreeing to a boarding fee of R4000 per month. Upon my release, she demanded R75,000 and refused to return the dogs until paid. My fiancé, when I got bail (unexpectedly for some), stole my jewellery collection worth approximately R10,000,000, lying to the housekeeper to access an industrial safe and fled to Paris with the jewellery. While I was in Pollsmoor, a ‘friend’ and former tenant of mine broke into my London home and stole its contents, including a valuable art collection.
These incidents share two commonalities: opportunism during my vulnerability and their connection to the consortium’s campaign. These individuals had all been in contact with or contacted by one or more members of the consortium (Keith Broad, Paula Disberry, de Swardt, Serg Stevens) who encouraged them to join their campaign, to take full advantage of my absence, and, like many others, pushed them to lie and sign witness statements written for them.
The individuals all used that as leverage and threatened to agree and join with them and lay false charges if I pursued them, providing the consortium with something they had been trying to create for months, i.e., unrelated charges to use against me. After my second release, I received similar threats, referencing communication and encouragement from Mr. de Swardt and Paula.
When I attempted to report the thefts at Hout Bay, they literally threw me out and said there was no chance they would assist me in any matter.
When I said I would go to another station, they pointed out that as the theft had happened in Llandudno within their jurisdiction, even if I reported the crimes elsewhere, the file would come to them and they would bin it. As such, I have been unable to report any of the crimes committed, including some extremely serious and personal ones.
The theft of the jewellery, for example, is an extremely serious one. The value alone makes it a very significant theft. And the fact that he then fled South Africa would require an investigation and possible extradition demand. In itself, far too complex for an average police station, and if the one that would be instructed to investigate was Hout Bay, as they said, even a simple matter would be binned. So as it stands, nothing has been done about this crime or any of the other crimes.
Normalization Of Sabotaged Immigration Status
Having had the state (SAPS Serg Stevens and Serg Duna) sabotage my visa extensions, steal and illegally hold my passport, and then use this against me, I would hope that the very least one can expect would be that my immigration status is normalized and returned to how it was before the ability to extend was taken away from me.
While I appreciate the state cannot control every employee, it is responsible for their actions especially when those actions have crossed multiple departments and personnel. I came into the country legally, I have always abided by all visa regulations during the course of the many years I have spent in South Africa and did so from landing through to the theft of my passport. I even extended in 2021 into 2022, when there was no need to do so, until after the automatic extensions ended.
I have submitted a complaint to the Director of Home Affairs along with a request for them to investigate the highly suspicious affidavits claiming to be from the Home Affairs Dept. as well as a a Letter of Good Cause to normalise my status.
It will certainly be helpful when Serg Stevens is prosecuted in substantiating my allegations and demonstrating I am not simply making excuses for not extending
My Illegally Held Equipment
After Mr de Swardt and Serg Stevens had successfully delayed the start of my urgent bail application for a full three months, on the morning that bail application was due to start and the defense and prosecution were finally given the details of the charges, the prosecution withdrew them. My equipment, devices, documents and data should have been returned then.
Despite repeated requests from the attorneys Mr de Swardt and SAPS refused. The justification was that they intended to harvest all of the data for use in a future matter. In reality an illegal fishing expedition. As they had had three months by that point and have had a year and a half since the illegal arrest, the reality is that the purpose is to deny me access to the evidence of their criminality.
Regardless of their motivation, there is no legal justification for the continued retention and the justification that they have used is shown to be false by virtue of the considerable amount of time that has lapsed since they were seized.
While I am assured that if I launch a case in the High Court to compel the police to return my equipment I would succeed as there is no possible legal justification or defense that they could put forward, I cannot afford to send tens of thousands of Rand on legal fees to do so.
Defamation & The Truth: The Press Council. Formal Complaint To The Ombudsman
One of the journalists I have been speaking to suggested that I might find it easier to gain traction and to get investigations initiated, if I submit a complaint to the Press Council in regard to the fabricated stories that Mr de Swardt authored, motivated and managed, and that the Media24 group published, with a view to getting apologies, retractions and corrections. Until such time, the existence of the articles, seems to undermine my position and gives credibility to the fabrications they contain.
As such, last week I submitted a complaint. Backed up by 1,600 pages of files, documents, photos and videos, as well as links to much more. The attorneys have commented that due to every statement of fact being inaccurate and or specifically fabricated with the explicit intention of causing maximum damage, the only possible outcome would be Tier 3 sanctions.
Hopefully, the Press Council will handle the matter expeditiously. Unfortunately, my experiences over the last couple of years have eroded my faith in the organisations charged with governing, policing, and regulation.
Litigation Against Those Responsible
Now that I have compiled the information and evidence necessary, I will instruct attorneys to litigate against those responsible, most especially the state, in an attempt to recover some of the more than R100 million their conduct cost me.
Again, the prosecution of Serg Stevens will assist in that and will also demonstrate that state employees and especially the police cannot commit crimes and expect to get away with it. As seems to be the case most of the time.
FACT FILE — SIX AIMS, ONE OBSTRUCTION: THE SYSTEM
From evidence-backed prosecutions to the restoration of basic civil rights, each of the six aims outlined here is legally grounded, procedurally valid — and structurally blocked. The intention is clear:
- To see the crimes committed fully investigated
- To be allowed to report the theft and abuse I've endured
- To restore the immigration status that was sabotaged through deception
- To recover property that was seized without cause and never returned
- To replace a deliberately falsified public narrative with truth backed by record
- To hold perpetrators — both public and private — legally accountable
None of these goals are radical. Each represents the minimum any democratic state should guarantee. And yet, because those implicated hold power, hold badges, and hold the narrative, even these fundamental aims remain obstructed. In South Africa, justice isn't denied for lack of evidence — it's denied by design.
3. Investigations Requested to Date
Every avenue of proper reporting was pursued. Over the last two years, fully documented and legally sound complaints were submitted to nearly a dozen institutions. These weren’t speculative grievances — they were structured dossiers, many backed by photographic evidence, witness statements, and detailed case files. What follows is not a list of options explored, but a record of systemic inaction:
✅ PSIRA
Outcome: Criminal charges initiated against Wouter de Swardt.
In one of the rarest outcomes in PSIRA’s history — with just two criminal cases filed across 2.7 million members in 2023 — PSIRA concluded that Mr de Swardt’s conduct warranted both formal disciplinary action and criminal prosecution. Their investigation confirmed that he acted unlawfully while presenting himself as a law enforcement proxy, leveraging police powers without legal authority. PSIRA has formally passed a criminal docket to SAPS and confirmed that de Swardt faces expulsion from the registry.
✅ SAPS Inspectorate – Colonel Collett McLean
Outcome: Internal investigation opened into Sergeant Stevens and Bellville Commercial Crime Unit.
Colonel McLean, covering over 200 stations in her jurisdiction, reviewed the evidence and opened an investigation into the extensive misconduct by Stevens — including unlawful arrest, fabricated affidavits, denial of bail through deception, and direct collusion with a private actor. Disciplinary proceedings have been initiated, with criminal charges under consideration.
⏳ Western Cape Police Ombudsman
Status: Full submission prepared — on hold pending outcome of the Press Council complaint.
All documentation has been compiled and is ready for filing. However, the formal complaint is being held pending the outcome of the Press Council investigation. As long as Media24’s demonstrably false narrative remains online and uncorrected, efforts to report misconduct or criminality continue to be undermined by institutional scepticism and reputational prejudice. The credibility of the truth depends first on the removal of the lies.
⛔ IPID (Independent Police Investigative Directorate)
Outcome: No reply. No acknowledgement. No action.
Multiple complaints were submitted — covering Stevens, Duna, Hout Bay SAPS, Camps Bay SAPS, and Bellville Commercial. Over two dozen emails. Not a single reply. Not a single action taken. As of now, IPID has not investigated or responded to any portion of this case.
⛔ Home Affairs
Outcome: No action on falsified affidavits or visa sabotage.
Despite formal submissions — including a Letter of Good Cause to the Director General — no corrective action has been taken. Affidavits falsely presented as official immigration opinions remain unaddressed. My ability to travel remains blocked.
⏳ South African Press Council
Outcome: Formal complaint filed — under review.
A detailed, 1,600-page submission has been lodged with the Ombudsman concerning Media24’s publication of demonstrably false, defamatory articles. The evidence includes legal filings, videos, and correspondence. The complaint seeks Tier 3 sanctions — the highest possible — based on deliberate distortion and reputational damage.
⛔ All Other Oversight Bodies Contacted
Outcome: No formal action taken.
This includes:
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The Presidency
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Minister of Police
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Minister of Home Affairs
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Premier Alan Winde
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National Prosecuting Authority
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Department of Justice
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British Embassy
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SAPS internal complaint desks
With the sole exception of PSIRA and Colonel McLean, none acted, despite being presented with clear criminal records, falsified evidence, and credible, corroborated allegations.
⚖️ EVERYTHING HINGES ON THE PRESS COUNCIL’S RULING.
Until Media24’s lies are retracted and corrected, the sole public narrative remains the fabricated one — written by the perpetrators, legitimised by the press, and repeated by every institution I turn to.
While I am still wrongly labelled the villain — and the villains still enjoy the benefits of that lie — any attempt to seek justice is met with suspicion and doubt. The first investigation that must conclude is the one that proves I was telling the truth all along
FACT FILES: EXPOSING THE LIES, REVEALING THE TRUTH
A Blueprint for Impunity: Across every institution approached, the pattern was near-identical: acknowledgment without action, or silence without excuse. Over a dozen formal complaints were submitted — not anonymous tips, but structured, evidence-backed dossiers. The results? Out of hundreds of criminal offences documented, only two officials took meaningful action.
For the rest — including IPID, Home Affairs, and the Presidency — the response has been non-existent. In a functional democracy, that would be a scandal. In this one, it’s the norm. When the state is warned, and stays silent, it becomes part of the crime.
FACT FILES: THE DEFAULT IS INACTION & AVOIDANCE
What my experience makes painfully clear is this: for those charged with investigating corruption, upholding the law, and policing law enforcement itself, the default is not action — it’s avoidance. The first instinct is to say nothing. Most complaints are simply ignored. And when silence is no longer sustainable — when you’ve followed up, submitted evidence, escalated and insisted — the next layer of resistance appears: justifications for inaction.
Suddenly, the complaint is said to fall outside of prescribed timelines. Or it’s too long. Too complex. Outside their jurisdiction. No longer their responsibility. They’re under-resourced. Or overburdened. Or the matter is civil, not criminal. The result is the same: nothing happens. And that is not an accident — it is the culture of the system itself.
Every excuse is a way to delay consequence. Every delay is a shield against accountability. At every step, the design appears less about rooting out wrongdoing than about protecting those already entrenched within it.
In South Africa today, corruption isn’t ignored because it is invisible — it is ignored because that is what the system has been trained to do.
4. IPID: The Silence That Shielded the Crime
Throughout this campaign of unlawful arrests, falsified dockets, fabricated affidavits, illegal raids, and strategic abuse of state power, one institution stood above all others as the body legally mandated to intervene: IPID — the Independent Police Investigative Directorate.
And yet, IPID did absolutely nothing.
Over the course of two years:
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Multiple formal reports were filed detailing the conduct of Sergeant Stevens, Sergeant Duna, Hout Bay SAPS, Camps Bay SAPS, and the Bellville Commercial Crime Unit
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These were submitted via email, webform, and direct escalation, complete with timelines, documents, photographs, and corroborated accounts
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Not one acknowledgement was received
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Not one investigation was opened
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Not a single action was taken
Their silence is not bureaucratic delay. It is structural complicity. The one body created to police the police — to investigate abuse, restore oversight, and protect the rule of law — was presented with clear, irrefutable evidence of criminal misconduct and chose to do nothing. It did not miss the opportunity. It declined it.
As highlighted in the formal correspondence:
“More than a year later, PSIRA has completed their investigation, found de Swardt guilty of serious misconduct, and referred him for criminal prosecution. IPID has yet to reply to a single email.”
This is not a failure of communication. It is a refusal to confront corruption within SAPS. And statistically, it is not rare. As detailed in your submissions:
* Fewer than 2% of IPID reports lead to convictions
* The actual percentage of crimes by police officers resulting in sanction is far lower than 1%
What this tells police officers is simple: they can break the law with impunity. And what it tells victims is even clearer: that lawfulness, truth, and evidence are no guarantee of protection — not when the state’s own watchdog won’t even lift its head.
FACT FILE — IPID: DESIGNED TO WATCH, STRUCTURED TO LOOK AWAY
The Independent Police Investigative Directorate exists for one reason: to investigate police misconduct. It has the legal mandate, the statutory tools, and a direct obligation to act when officers break the law. And yet, in one of the most documented cases of police corruption in recent memory — involving over 300 criminal offences — IPID did nothing. Not a reply. Not a case number. Not an enquiry.
This isn’t a missed report. It’s a blueprint. South Africa’s oversight mechanism for police abuse has a conviction rate below 2%, and when filtered against total misconduct, the real sanction rate drops below 1%. In practice, this means a SAPS officer can commit a crime and have a 99% chance of getting away with it — a ratio that would dismantle any claims to credible enforcement. Impunity is not the exception. It is the system.
5. Who Did Act: PSIRA and Colonel McLean
In a landscape marked almost entirely by silence, there were two clear exceptions — two institutions that took the evidence seriously, acted with integrity, and confirmed through their own processes that the misconduct documented here was not just real, but criminal.
✅ PSIRA — The First to Investigate, the First to Prosecute
When the complaint against Wouter de Swardt was filed with the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority, they did what no other body had done: they took the allegations seriously and launched a proper investigation. What followed was a full-scale inquiry, interviews with multiple witnesses (including others he unlawfully targeted), and forensic assessment of de Swardt’s conduct.
The outcome:
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Formal disciplinary proceedings against de Swardt
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Referral of a criminal docket to SAPS for prosecution
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A likely lifetime expulsion from PSIRA’s registry
This isn’t just procedurally significant — it’s historically rare. With 2.7 million members under regulation, only two criminal dockets were filed in the previous reporting year. The fact that de Swardt’s conduct met that threshold proves just how serious and well-substantiated these findings are.
✅ SAPS Inspectorate — Colonel Collett McLean
As of now, the only individual within SAPS who treated the matter with the seriousness it warrants is Colonel Collett McLean. Assigned to the SAPS Inspectorate with jurisdiction over more than 200 stations — including Bellville Commercial Crime — she reviewed the documentation, requested a meeting, and responded with firm, formal action.
The outcome:
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Opened an internal investigation into Sergeant Stevens
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Initiated disciplinary proceedings
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Acknowledged the scale of misconduct documented in submissions
Colonel McLean’s approach stood in stark contrast to the institutional silence elsewhere. She didn’t redirect, delay, or deflect. She listened, she acted, and she formally committed to investigate what others had tried to bury. Her response remains the only demonstration of procedural integrity within SAPS throughout this entire ordeal.
These two actions — one by a private regulatory authority, one by a lone senior officer within SAPS — are not simply encouraging. They are the standard by which every other agency’s inaction must be judged.
FACT FILE: JUST TWO WHO ACTED, AMID HUNDREDS WHO DIDN’T
Over a dozen institutions were given detailed submissions — backed by evidence, timelines, and named perpetrators. Only two bodies acted: a private industry regulator and a single officer within SAPS. Out of thousands of public servants empowered and paid to investigate wrongdoing, it took just two people to prove that action was always possible — just never chosen.
When integrity is that rare, it stops being the baseline. It becomes the exception. And the exception is what now defines this entire system
6. The Real and Very Present Danger
This page is not just about what has happened. It is about what still can — and very possibly will — happen, because nothing and no one has stopped them.
For the first sixteen months following my arrest, I deliberately restricted the number of complaints I filed. I focused on PSIRA to investigate the private investigator, and IPID to investigate the police. My intention was simple: to allow the process to unfold before those under investigation realised what was happening — before they had the chance to retaliate.
I now know that was naïve.
IPID never replied. Not once. And while PSIRA did act, the others I counted on remained silent. So, I widened the scope. I contacted the Minister of Police, the Minister of Home Affairs, the Director General of Home Affairs, the Western Cape Minister of Police Oversight and Community Safety, the Commander of Central Cape Town SAPS, Premier Alan Winde, the British Embassy, the Press Council, journalists, editors, ombudsmen. The more action I took, the greater the risk became — and continues to become.
Let me be clear: the people I reported are dangerous. They have already shown, unequivocally, what they are willing to do to others purely to enrich themselves — landlords trying to seize property and silence opposition, private investigators paid to commit crimes on demand, and police officers who weaponised state resources to deliver those outcomes.
This is the same group that:
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Orchestrated two unlawful arrests against me
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Held me in Pollsmoor Prison for a combined four months
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Used arrest as cover for secret, off-the-record raids at properties I legally leased
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Lied to prosecutors, submitted fabricated affidavits, and obstructed legal processes at every turn
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Held my passport illegally for nearly a year — specifically to prevent me from extending my visa and then used that situation to charge me
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Seized and have still not returned my personal equipment, documents, and devices, all long after every charge was withdrawn
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Enabled landlords to steal millions in rental deposits, refurbishments, contents, and personal property — none of which has ever been recovered
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Designed and executed a plan to create victims after my arrest by hiding the change of villa control from booking platforms, ensuring hundreds of families arrived to find themselves stranded — all so those civil claims could be weaponised later
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Targeted my staff and associates — threatening them with decades of prison unless they signed fabricated witness statements
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Attempted to arrest and imprison others, such as Ollie Sokanyile, simply for defending property occupants from forced evictions — acts that had already succeeded in removing me
And all of that — every act listed above — was done not out of desperation, or even retribution. It was done to satisfy their clients, to win lawsuits, to seize assets. They carried out these crimes with confidence because they believed they would get away with it. And up to this point, they have.
Now imagine what they are willing to do when what’s at stake is not their client’s financial gain, but their own jobs, reputations, freedom, and liberty. If they were prepared to carry out that level of criminality just to secure property and profit — what will they do to avoid prison?
This is why I delayed so long in going public. This is why I planned every submission with precision. Because retaliation isn’t theoretical — I’ve lived it. And now that I’ve widened the net, contacted more agencies, gathered more evidence, and built a public record strong enough to finally put this in the light — the risk has never been greater.
I never want to go back to Pollsmoor. No one should. But especially not someone imprisoned not by mistake — but by design. It is terrifying to know that private individuals were able to use SAPS officers, public prosecutors, elite police units, and state resources funded by the taxpayer to conduct a personal vendetta that ruined my life.
The only reason I remain a target is because the bodies whose job it is to police the police chose not to.
FACT FILE — EXTREME RISK, NO PROTECTION
By reporting these crimes, I have taken a calculated but highly dangerous step — and in doing so, I have made myself especially vulnerable. Those responsible for this campaign of misconduct now know that I will not be silenced, that I’ve built the evidence, and that I intend to expose them — publicly, persistently, and with clarity.
Until action is taken, I remain a target. The longer institutions delay, the more exposed I become. Once prosecution begins, once investigations are launched, retaliation loses its strategic value. But right now — as this website gains traction, and as the truth finally enters the public domain — I am in a uniquely precarious position.
And let's be clear: these individuals are not only willing to break the law — they have state resources, police allies, and prosecutorial contacts that shield them while they do it. Add to that the platform provided by Media24, which broadcast their falsehoods at scale, and the incentives become obvious. With reputations, careers liberty on the line, they are motivated to act — and to act in the most extreme ways possible.
In a system where criminal offences by police go un-investigated, and where corruption enjoys near-total impunity, that danger is not just credible — it’s statistically inevitable.
⚖️ THE GENUINE AND EVER MORE PRESSING URGENCY
While every element of this campaign has inflicted permanent harm, the consequences of delay are not theoretical — they are personal, immediate, and irreversible.
In 2022, my mother — now in her late seventies — was diagnosed with lung cancer. I have not seen her since I left the UK at the end of 2020. COVID travel restrictions kept us apart through 2020 and 2021. And just as borders reopened, SAPS and their private collaborators intervened.
They stole my passport.
They obstructed my visa extension.
They fabricated an immigration charge.
And even when that charge was withdrawn in September 2023 — almost two years ago now — they retained the damage they had done, ensuring that the system now flags me as ineligible to travel.
I have submitted a Letter of Good Cause to the Director General of Home Affairs. I have submitted complaints, documentation, requests — every required step. Still, my status remains unresolved.
And as a result, I have lost yet another year — time I should have spent with my mother.
There is no more time to lose. If there is one outcome I must secure before anything else, it is this: that the record be corrected before she dies.
The fabricated articles published in 2022 and 2023 — drafted and fed by Wouter de Swardt, published by Media24, and accepted as truth by everyone who read them — have done damage no court can undo. The only justice left now is to ensure they are replaced: with apologies, retractions, and permanent, public corrections.
That is more important to me than any financial award. That is what time demands.
FACT FILE — TIME LOST, TIME STOLEN
This isn’t just a legal battle. It’s a race against time — and the cost is personal, not theoretical. Due to SAPS’s deliberate obstruction of my visa, a fabricated immigration charge, and the unlawful seizure of my passport, I have been unable to leave South Africa since 2020. When my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2022, I still couldn’t return. Even after the charge was withdrawn in September 2023, the damage remained — the system still flags me, and my status remains unresolved.
Years lost can’t be reclaimed. And for every day that goes by without resolution, justice slips further out of reach. I am not just fighting to clear my name — I’m fighting to see my mother before it’s too late. There is no recourse more urgent than that.
Wider Implications - How the Justice System Becomes a Tool for Injustice
A Case Study in State-Enabled Criminality
The legal system — its police powers, its prisons, its courts — was designed to uphold justice. But in this case, it was hijacked for private financial gain. Those with the right connections knew how to manipulate its mechanisms: secure an arrest with no evidence, fabricate a charge, delay bail, keep a person incarcerated long enough to execute a civil takeover. And when challenged? Simply invent more charges.
If this can happen once, it can happen again. And it likely already has — to people without a platform, without documentation, without the ability to fight back.
Impunity as Institutional Norm
Every failed investigation, every unanswered submission, every official who chose not to act — they didn’t just abandon this case. They reinforced a message:
“If you wear the badge, or work beside someone who does, you are untouchable.”
What Happens When Law Enforcement Serves the Few
The statistics support this. Disciplinary sanctions against officers remain rare. Criminal prosecutions almost never happen. And convictions — even for serious offences — are practically nonexistent. This isn't about overburdened systems. It's about systems that were never designed to hold power accountable in the first place.
The Cost of Inaction Isn’t Just Mine
What’s been taken from me — my liberty, my home, my property, my income, my visa, my name, my time with my mother — is immeasurable. But what’s at stake goes even further.
If SAPS officers can carry out arrests at the direction of private individuals…
If media outlets can destroy reputations with impunity…
If immigration status can be sabotaged by a single corrupt official…
If oversight bodies ignore formal submissions backed by irrefutable proof…
Then the law has no meaning beyond who controls it.
The Precedent Set
This case sets a precedent for how the law can be weaponised, the media leveraged, and state systems co-opted by the very people they were supposed to restrain. It reveals a playbook where arrest replaces eviction, articles replace affidavits, and silence replaces accountability.
A Blueprint for Abuse — and a Warning to the Public
Unless this case is exposed, investigated, and answered for — unless there are real, public consequences — this won’t just happen again. It will become the new norm.
FACT FILE — WHEN IMPUNITY BECOMES INFRASTRUCTURE
In South Africa, the absence of accountability isn’t a loophole — it’s a system feature. Police officers rarely face disciplinary action. Criminal prosecutions are statistically negligible. And conviction rates for serious misconduct are so low, they’re functionally irrelevant.
What begins as individual abuse metastasises into institutional complicity. When arrests are deployed for private gain, when media act as amplifiers for defamation, and when oversight bodies choose silence over scrutiny, the rule of law collapses. It’s not justice failing — it’s justice being replaced.
8. Conclusion: A Public Record They Couldn’t Silence
Every agency listed here was given the chance to do the right thing. Most chose not to. Every piece of evidence on this site was submitted privately before it was ever made public. No door was broken down without first being politely knocked on — repeatedly, and with the facts in hand.
This website is not just a record of what happened. It is a proof of concept: that justice, when denied through official channels, must be reconstructed in public view. That visibility is not revenge — it’s protection.
And it’s working.
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PSIRA investigated, ruled, and referred criminal charges.
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Colonel McLean initiated disciplinary proceedings.
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The Press Council now holds everything Media24 omitted, distorted, or fabricated.
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The Ombudsman’s next — and this time, the dossier won’t be weighed down by suspicion, but buoyed by independent corroboration.
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Litigation is coming. Formal prosecution is inevitable. The narrative is shifting — not by force, but by fact.
But make no mistake: this page exists because the systems designed to uphold justice did not. Every step forward has come at extraordinary personal cost. And the full weight of gathering this record — the hundreds of documents, the sleepless nights, the risk of retaliation, the irrecoverable time with my mother — rests squarely on my shoulders alone.
This page isn’t closure. It’s a signal.
If South Africa intends to call itself a constitutional democracy — not just on paper, but in practice — then this cannot stand.
If it wishes to be counted among law-abiding, rights-based societies that respect due process, it must start by dismantling a system that:
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Incentivises the police to commit crimes
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Rewards private individuals for weaponising the state
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Grants impunity to those who break the law — provided they have the money or the connections to do so
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Leaves the powerless without protection, without remedy, and without recourse
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Allows state mechanisms to be hired and directed like a private army, at the expense of taxpayers
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Produces a 99% impunity rate for officers in uniform, and still insists it qualifies as just
In its current state, South Africa has no business claiming a seat at the table of functional democracies. And nowhere is that more glaring than in the shadows cast by its past.
Because this isn’t just a corruption story. It’s a continuity story. Apartheid is not dead — it is simply no longer enshrined in law.
The power imbalance remains. The system that once formalised white dominance still disproportionately protects it. And in many ways, it’s worse: because while apartheid was evil in law and practice, at least its administrative structure functioned. Now what remains is dysfunction without restraint — an administrative state that is broken, indifferent, and in key places, complicit.
The system doesn’t just fail to stop corruption. It actively rewards the very worst behaviour — from police, from public servants, and from the private actors who orchestrate it.
This page is not the end. It’s the beginning of the reckoning.
FACT FILE — WHEN TRUTH BECOMES THE ONLY FUNCTIONING SYSTEM
Hundreds of pages submitted. Dozens of officials warned. Criminal acts reported, supported, documented — and still ignored. The only progress made was not through the police, not through prosecutors, not through oversight bodies — but through truth made public. A single citizen, armed with facts and persistence, did what state institutions refused to: build a working record of justice.
When visibility becomes the only form of protection, the state has already abdicated its role. This isn't transparency as a virtue — it's transparency as a survival mechanism.
⚖️ WHAT MY EXPERIENCE SHOWS: CORRUPTION AND POLICE CRIMINALITY ARE NOT RARE — THEY ARE UNREPORTED, UNDER INVESTIGATED, UNDER PROSECUTED AND ULTIMATELY PROTECTED.
If someone as determined as myself can’t get justice — who possibly could?
I’ve spent more than two years doing everything right. Compiling evidence. Filing formal submissions. Backing up every claim with documents, photographs, transcripts, and sworn statements. I’ve approached every agency that exists, and I haven’t let up. And still — almost nothing.
So it’s no wonder that most victims of police criminality, abuse of power, or corruption don’t even report it. And many who do eventually give up — not because they’re weak or indifferent, but because the system makes it as difficult and demoralising as possible.
The official statistics don’t just understate the problem — they actively conceal it. Crimes committed by police officers are underreported, under-investigated, and almost never prosecuted. Even based on conservative estimates, fewer than 0.5% of police crimes ever result in conviction.
And with corruption? The numbers are even worse. By design, it hides in the shadows — and it stays there. The people who commit it know how unlikely it is they’ll ever face consequences. In reality, they operate with a 99% success rate.
We hear a lot of political promises about cracking down on corruption. But when the proof is handed to them on a silver platter — bound, paginated, cross-referenced, and supported by evidence — they do absolutely nothing.
That’s not just negligence. That’s complicity dressed up as governance.
NEXT CHAPTER .....
The Truth Suid Afrika
Discover the untold stories behind the false headlines of the Media24 articles. Uncover the truth behind the fabricated content of those articles. Understand the motivation that powered the consortium's actions.
"The police force should be the embodiment of the rule of law, not a symbol of its violation."
- Robert Peel