MBOMBELA – An 18-month-long court case was concluded last week when the charges of committing acts of public violence which had been motivated by xenophobia against 19 accused were scrapped from the roll.
It started in February 2014 when a young man was allegedly shot and killed in Pienaar by a foreign-national business owner. This cumulated in a rampage by residents who looted foreigners’ shops following the funeral of the victim, Mr Wellington Hendry Dube (20).
At the time police confirmed that four people were wounded during the incident. Initially 13 suspects were arrested on March 9 and appeared in the KaBokweni Magistrate’s Court the next day. More arrests were made. Among them were Mr Mandla Msibi, the ward councillor of Daantjie Trust in Mbombela Local Municipality.
The case was transferred to the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court where the prosecution requested postponement after postponement. Msibi said his defence opposed the latest request for a postponement on Thursday, and the charges were scrapped from the roll. Now he and his co-accused Messrs Tebogo Nsimbibi, Tsepo Nkuna, Welcome Lekhuleni, Knowledge Ngwenya, Ms Lindokuhle Shingwe, Messrs Nhlanhla Mashaba, Thembelani Myeni, Louis Magagula, Ms Goodness Mnisi, Messrs Themba Shabangu, Sizwe Ngwenya, Michel Mokoena, Thabo Khoza, Comfort Lubisi, Ms Sonto Nkosi, Thulani Zulu, Johan Madlopha and Ms Linda Mazibuko are free.
Msibi, however, claimed that there was political interference in the case and indicated that he intended to sue the
minister of police for wrongful prosecution. A statutory notice of this had allegedly been served.
