One of the six men accused of being behind the Soweto tavern massacre, where 16 patrons were murdered, was granted bail on Monday.
The accused, who cannot be named as the court ruled against identifying the suspects, was granted R35,000 bail in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court.
The matter was previously heard in the Orlando magistrate’s court but had to be moved after community members from Nomzamo Park, where the massacre occurred, threatened to burn the police station and the magistrate’s court should the suspect be granted bail.
While handing down judgment on the bail application, magistrate AW Morten said the state failed to provide concrete evidence that linked the accused to the murders.
“Looking at the investigating officer’s affidavit, he could not pinpoint or indicate that the accused is directly involved in the shooting. The investigating officer also said there is circumstantial evidence linking the applicant to the murders, there is no direct evidence linking him to the shootings, and the [state] was dealing in circumstantial evidence,” said Morten.
“All the facts must align with the allegations, but in this case and based on the merits, I am finding it difficult to correlate the facts and allegations,” he said.
The suspect and former Hawks officer was granted bail in absentia after he could not attend his bail hearing because he allegedly suffered a mild stroke.
His lawyer, JP Venter, told SowetanLIVE's sister publicaiton TimesLIVE his client was vindicated by the court’s decision to grant him bail.
“The court found that my client was arrested while assisting the police [in tracing the suspects of the massacre] and that there is no evidence linking him to the tavern shootings at this stage. My client maintained his innocence right from the beginning andhas been playing open cards with the police and tried to assist them,” said Venter.
“The court found that it was not his fault that the other suspects did not want to co-operate, considering that they would be facing life imprisonment and therefore did not want to hand themselves over to authorities in SA,” he said.
He said his client would endeavour to help the police bring to book those responsible for the tavern massacre.
During the bail application, lead investigating officer Col Friccah Nofana Masilela, revealed that three recent tavern shootings can be traced back to the rivalry between two Basotho zama zama gangs, leading to at least 22 people being “hunted and killed” in cold blood.
Masilela told the court Terene ea Mokata was believed to be behind the shootings at Mdlalose Tavern — and another two sprees at taverns in Soul City informal settlement on the West Rand and in Protea South, Soweto.
Masilela painted a picture of a violent history between the two groups that culminated in 36 police dockets in Gauteng, North West and Free State “and various other matters all over the country involving the premeditated murder of people also involved in the illegal mining”.
However, while handing down judgment on bail, Morten questioned why Masilela only investigated cases related to Terene ea Mokata and not cases related to their rival group, Terene ea Chakela.
After handing down judgment, he said the state was welcome to seek a remedy through the high court should it wish to appeal his decision.
Morten postponed the matter for June 12 for the further investigations.
Suspect in Soweto tavern massacre granted bail
Court finds there was not enough evidence linking suspect to the massacre
Image: Phathu Luvhengo
One of the six men accused of being behind the Soweto tavern massacre, where 16 patrons were murdered, was granted bail on Monday.
The accused, who cannot be named as the court ruled against identifying the suspects, was granted R35,000 bail in the Johannesburg magistrate’s court.
The matter was previously heard in the Orlando magistrate’s court but had to be moved after community members from Nomzamo Park, where the massacre occurred, threatened to burn the police station and the magistrate’s court should the suspect be granted bail.
While handing down judgment on the bail application, magistrate AW Morten said the state failed to provide concrete evidence that linked the accused to the murders.
“Looking at the investigating officer’s affidavit, he could not pinpoint or indicate that the accused is directly involved in the shooting. The investigating officer also said there is circumstantial evidence linking the applicant to the murders, there is no direct evidence linking him to the shootings, and the [state] was dealing in circumstantial evidence,” said Morten.
“All the facts must align with the allegations, but in this case and based on the merits, I am finding it difficult to correlate the facts and allegations,” he said.
The suspect and former Hawks officer was granted bail in absentia after he could not attend his bail hearing because he allegedly suffered a mild stroke.
His lawyer, JP Venter, told SowetanLIVE's sister publicaiton TimesLIVE his client was vindicated by the court’s decision to grant him bail.
“The court found that my client was arrested while assisting the police [in tracing the suspects of the massacre] and that there is no evidence linking him to the tavern shootings at this stage. My client maintained his innocence right from the beginning andhas been playing open cards with the police and tried to assist them,” said Venter.
“The court found that it was not his fault that the other suspects did not want to co-operate, considering that they would be facing life imprisonment and therefore did not want to hand themselves over to authorities in SA,” he said.
He said his client would endeavour to help the police bring to book those responsible for the tavern massacre.
During the bail application, lead investigating officer Col Friccah Nofana Masilela, revealed that three recent tavern shootings can be traced back to the rivalry between two Basotho zama zama gangs, leading to at least 22 people being “hunted and killed” in cold blood.
Masilela told the court Terene ea Mokata was believed to be behind the shootings at Mdlalose Tavern — and another two sprees at taverns in Soul City informal settlement on the West Rand and in Protea South, Soweto.
Masilela painted a picture of a violent history between the two groups that culminated in 36 police dockets in Gauteng, North West and Free State “and various other matters all over the country involving the premeditated murder of people also involved in the illegal mining”.
However, while handing down judgment on bail, Morten questioned why Masilela only investigated cases related to Terene ea Mokata and not cases related to their rival group, Terene ea Chakela.
After handing down judgment, he said the state was welcome to seek a remedy through the high court should it wish to appeal his decision.
Morten postponed the matter for June 12 for the further investigations.
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