Walk of Shame

September 14, 2011

Security was tight at the Mhala magistrate court in Thumalahashe when a group of five “extremely dangerous thugs” appeared on a number of serious offences on Wednesday.

Reuben Mathebula, Douglas Mokgakane, David Paku, Joel Ndlovu and Sandile Matsane were marched from the Mhala police cells to the magistrate court, about 100m away at about 9am.

Heavily armed members of the police’s Tactical Response Team (TRT) surrounded the men as they walked to the magistrate court.

Members of the community came to the court in large numbers to have a glimpse of the young men who suddenly became famous for allegedly terrorising foreign business owners, amongst others.

The five whose ages range between 20 and 26 were not asked to plead to charges of murder, armed robbery, attempted murder, car hijacking, rape, unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition as well as other related offenses.

They were remanded in custody pending their next court appearance on Monday next week for a possible bail application.

Mpumalanga police spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Leonard Hlathi said the five were arrested in Graskop at the beginning of August.

“The suspects were found in possession of suspected stolen vehicles, firearms and ammunition when they were arrested in Graskop at the beginning of August. We have successfully managed to link them to other criminal activities that took place in Mpumalanga and Gauteng,” said Hlathi yesterday.

Graskop police were in their normal visible police patrol when they spotted the occupants of two sedans, a Mercedes Benz and an Opel Kadet, communicating on the town’s main road.

The police carefully monitored the sedans and followed them from a safe distance until they reached the main petrol station in Graskop.

Some of the occupants of the vehicles alighted and walked into the restaurant in the petrol station pretending to be buying before the police pounced on them.

The men were made to lie down and subjected to a search, which resulted in police recovering three illegal firearms from their bodies and vehicles.

Police established that the Kadet had been hijacked from a house in Mkhuhlu while the Mercedes Benz was reportedly stolen in Gauteng.

The men later pointed a number of crime scenes and confessed to have been responsible for various crimes, most of which were committed in the Bushbuckridge area.

Police were also looking into the possibility of the men’s possible involvement in the murder of a prominent taxi owner, Norman Phelelaphi Mambane, who was shot dead in Rolle about two months ago.

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