JUSTICE DENIED: Innocent Man LOCKED IN CAGE for Ten Extra Days After Being Declared FREE — And the State Says It’s LEGAL.
A North West man, David Gaonamong, walked out of prison a DECADE ago after a judge threw out his 15-year robbery conviction. But his nightmare wasn’t over. He was thrown back into a cell for TEN MORE DAYS while paperwork shuffled between desks. Now, the High Court has delivered a final blow: It says his unlawful detention NEVER HAPPENED.
The court’s own records are the smoking gun. Judge Ronald Hendricks overturned his conviction on May 18, 2015. Yet, the warrant for his liberation wasn’t issued until May 27. For those torturous ten days in between, Gaonamong remained behind bars at Rooigrond Correctional Centre. He sued, screaming that his constitutional right to freedom was VIOLATED. The state’s response? Cold, bureaucratic denial. They claimed he was released “immediately” and called his plea “BASELESS.”
In a shocking ruling on January 5, 2026, Judge Sandisiwe Mfenyana sided with the government. She ruled the detention was “lawful,” blaming court administrators—who were under the SAME government minister at the time—and absolving prison officials of any blame. The system has declared itself innocent. The man who already lost years of his life to a wrongful conviction gets NOTHING for losing ten more days of freedom. He even has to pay the state’s legal costs.
This is how the machine chews people up and spits them out. They can take your freedom, admit they were wrong, and still charge you for the extra suffering. One department points at another, judges nod in agreement, and the citizen is left broken and buried in paperwork.
If the state can legally vanish a man for ten days after he’s declared innocent, what can’t they do?
Edited for Kayitsi.com
Author: Kayitsi.com
