The prosecution in the advocate Pete Mihalik murder case is butting heads with the suspected "fixer" over video footage evidence.

Cape Town taxi boss Vuyile Maliti, 35, appeared in the city's magistrate's court on Thursday alongside alleged hitmen Sizwe Biyela and Nkosinathi Khumalo – both from KwaZulu-Natal – to apply for bail. They are facing an array of charges including murder, and illegal possession of firearms and ammunition.

Mihalik was shot dead while dropping off his children at school in Green Point, Cape Town, in October. The police anti-gang unit arrested Biyela and Khumalo hours after the shooting while Maliti handed himself over days later. Well-placed sources maintain that Maliti sourced Biyela and Khumalo to carry out the hit.

Their court appearance was delayed for more than four hours because police took so long to bring the suspects, who are being held at different prisons, to court.

Attorney Inga Jansen stood in for Maliti’s Johannesburg-based lawyer, Jannie Kruger.

She said Kruger had asked the state for information regarding Maliti’s case in preparation for the bail application but was not satisfied with what the state had supplied. He intended to bring an application "for further particulars".

She said Kruger wanted the state to provide him with the video footage evidence.

But prosecutor Helene Booysen said the state would not hand over the footage to the defence, or affidavits contained in the docket.

The matter was postponed to February 15 for a formal bail application.

A confident Maliti smiled at people in the gallery as the heavily armed police contingent took the men down to the cells.

Eric Ntabazalila, spokesman for the National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape, said: "The state will oppose bail against all the accused as this is a schedule 6 matter."