Embattled former Mkhondo mayor Vusi Motha did not, as expected, appear in the Mkhondo magistrate’s court in Mpumalanga to apply for bail on Tuesday morning. 

His defence team has requested more time to prepare for the application.

Motha had been scheduled to appear in the dock with local businessman Wellington Sangweni, the owner of Wellington Security, after the two men were arrested last week for the possession of firearms without the necessary licences (Motha) and the contravention of the Firearms Control Act (Sangweni).

Police spokesperson Brig Selvy Mohlahla, told Sunday Times last week that “Mr Motha was charged with possession of four unlicensed firearms (9mm pistol, 308, DM4, pump gun). As for the other firearms, they were taken for ballistic testing.”

The arrests followed the murder of the second ANC councillor in less than four months. Councillor Sibonelo Mthembu Ntshangase was shot, together with his friend and fellow ANC-member Sizwe Mbingo and a Swazi mechanic, Sandile Khumalo, in Longhomes township outside Mkhondo. 

On November 4 2022, “Ramaphosa faction man” and ward councillor, Muzi Manyathi, 41, was shot dead at a local service station. The evening of Manyathi’s murder, Ntshangase posted a live video on social media saying, among other things, that if he should ever be murdered, “people must know Sigemegeme is the killer”. Sigemegeme is Motha’s nickname.

Monica Nyuswa, Mpumalanga spokesperson for the National Prosecuting Authority told TimesLIVE the two men were appearing on two different dockets.

“Motha is facing a charge of being in possession of an unlicensed firearm and Sangweni is facing a charge of the contravention of the firearms act,” Nyuswa said on Tuesday.

“The accused are charged separately. Both are expected to appear before the same court (Mkhondo magistrate’s court) on February 2, 2023.”

Police confirmed to TimesLIVE on Monday that two more suspects have been arrested for Ntshangase, Mbingo and Khumalo’s murders.

Mohlala told TimesLIVE suspects Blessing Nhlakanipho Ntombela, 30, and Blessing Bongani Dlamini, 38, appeared briefly before the Piet Retief magistrate’s court on charges of murder and attempted murder.

TimesLIVE