The bail application for Deon Thabo Warren Mathonsi (26), appearing in connection with the recent shooting of family members in Imbali, KZN, has been remanded.

During the early hours of April 21, gunmen stormed into the Memela family home allegedly pretending to be policemen in search of guns.

They killed eight family members and two visitors aged between 13 and 63 years old.

Mathonsi, who initially opted for legal aid representation at his first appearance, said he wanted to change his representation.

The accused

Mathonsi is appearing on 15 charges relating to the Imbali massacre.

He told the court through his now former legal aid representative that he will be taking a private attorney as he was not happy with the representation he received during the identification parade.

“I asked that the legal aid representative be present during the parade. However, there was a certain gentleman who told me he was my representative but he did not have any form of identification on him,” said Mathonsi.

Magistrate Nitesh Binessarie then told Mathonsi that if he were not happy with the legal aid representation, he was at liberty to get a private attorney.

Mathonsi’s family appointed a private attorney, who presented himself at court yesterday morning.

The case was remanded to May 18.

Shootout

Mathonsi was arrested by SAPS following a shootout, where one man was killed.

The shootout began when police encountered men who were performing a cleansing ritual with muthi.

The men began shooting at SAPS members who returned fire.

Meanwhile, Chris Ndaliso reports that the man who was caught in the crossfire during the shootout between the police and gunmen suspected to be involved in the Imbali Unit 14 massacre, is still in hospital.

The police have confirmed that no charges have been levelled against Thulani Zondi, who was shot four times by the police during the shootout.

Zondi was staying with distant relatives in Imbali Unit 14 when he was injured.

His distant relative, Tholakele, said they were still waiting for his discharge from hospital for them to locate his biological family.

“So far we understand that the shooting was a case of either mistaken identity or an accident. Be that as it may, Thulani deserves to be treated like any other citizen and he deserves justice. His family is around Cato Ridge but we have not been able to make contact with them because we have no contact numbers.”

In what she previously described to The Witness to be like a Hollywood movie scene, he was shot in the waist, hand, thumb and leg on that Friday morning.

“He was already in the street when gunshots rang out. He ran back into the yard and I saw blood and I ran into the house and hid under the bed. As the shots continued I hid in the wardrobe and it was at that moment a police officer opened the wardrobe door and I lifted my hands up begging them not to shoot. There were two officers in the house and one instructed me to remove everything in the wardrobe and once he saw that there was no one there, he walked away.”

Zondi is still in hospital and provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Jay Naicker said no charges were levelled against him as he was not linked to the crime.

Area councillor (ward 41) Mabhungu Mkhize said they will assist in locating Zondi’s family.

“We will wait for his discharge and we will start finding ways to locate his biological family,” said Mkhize.

Ten family members were laid to rest last weekend following a mass funeral.