Six Mpumalanga men accused of Coka brothers’ murders plead not guilty

The murder trial of six farmers and a farmworker implicated in the deaths of the Coka brothers began in the Mpumalanga High Court, sitting in Middelburg, on Monday.

Daniel Cornelius Malan, 38, Cornelius Lourens Greyling, 26, Othard Johan Klingenberg, 53, Ignatius Michael Steynberg, 31, Zenzele Mzikayise Patrick Yende, 48, Andries Pienaar, 32, and Werner Potgieter, 48, face charges of murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, obstructing the course of justice and contravention of the Firearms Control Act.

Mgcini Coka and Zenzele Coka were murdered in April 2021 at Pampoenskraal farm in Piet Retief. Three other men were severely injured.

The accused have pleaded not guilty.  

The brothers were allegedly part of a group who went to the farm to ask for seasonal work. They were allegedly told to leave the farm as they were not welcome.  

“It is said that those who came to ask for employment decided to leave the farm but later realised one of them was left behind. They went back only to find he was kept at the farm by the suspects,” police said at the time.

“It is said that as the men demanded that they let him go, a scuffle broke [out] where two men were reportedly shot and died at the scene. Three other men sustained serious wounds,” police said. 

Mpumalanga National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Monica Nyuswa said three of the accused — Yende, Potgieter and Greyling — also face charges of kidnapping, murder and attempted murder in a separate case.

They are charged with Sikhumbuzo Zikalala, Mzwakhe Dlamini and Nkosinathi Msibi for the murder of Sifiso Thwala and his friend Musa Nene in August 2020.

Thwala, his brother Sthembiso and Nene were allegedly beaten, shocked with cattle prods and pepper sprayed after they stopped next to the farm after experiencing car trouble.

Sthembiso survived by pretending to be dead until police arrived. 

The matter slipped through the cracks until 2021 when the Coka brothers' deaths came to light.

The six accused were granted R10,000 bail in April 2021.

Three months later, Yende, Potgieter and Greyling were also granted bail of R10,000 in the Thwala and Nene murder case.

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