Following a bomb threat incident at the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday October 13, where ANC heavyweight and former agriculture MEC Mandla Msibi’s bail hearing is being heard, the police have beefed up security.

The Mpumalanga police have barricaded Bester Street leading to the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court to ensure no one uses that main street except journalists and court officials. Business outlets within this street have also been closed.

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Unlike on Tuesday and Wednesday, today’s (Thursday October 14) court proceedings are being carefully watched and monitored by the heavy police presence deployed there.

According to the provincial police spokesperson, Col Donald Mdhluli, the police decided to tighten security after concerns were raised in a briefing with court officials that other court proceedings were being disrupted by the large crowd outside.

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“We have reassessed and augmented our security plan with which we decided to barricade a portion of Bester Street, where the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court is housed. The reason behind this is because yesterday, (Wednesday October 13) we received information from the court officials indicating that besides the famous case involving the former MEC, eight other courts are being affected by the loud noise outside. This is just to control the crowd while at the same time trying to keep everyone safe and the courts running smoothly,” said Mdhluli.

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Msibi’s bail hearing continues today. He is charged with two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, alongside four other suspects.
Two of the suspects are already out on bail of R20 000.

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