Enyobeni tavern owner makes first court appearance

The owner of Enyobeni Tavern, in the Eastern Cape, where 21 children died under mysterious circumstances appeared at the East London Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), Siyakwamkela Ndevu (52) faces charges of selling or supplying intoxicating liquor to persons under the age of 18, and for conniving with and permitting employees and agents to sell or supply or deliver intoxicating liquor, to persons under the age of 18.

Ndevu’s case was postponed to 2 September 2022, for pre-trial.

“The state alleges that the accused connived and permitted Xoliswa Duma and Sivuyile Ngamlana to wrongfully and unlawfully sell liquor to under age persons.”

“Ndevu was served with the summons by the police in July 2022, to appear in court today and the two employees were given an option to pay a fine. The case has now been postponed to 2 September 2022, for a pre-trial.”

Last week, aggrieved parents told the media they were disturbed by the manner in which authorities are treating this case. They stated that police are communicating with the media and not them directly, and this does not sit well with them.

One of the parents said: “One thing we were told is that when the [postmortem] results come out, we would be visited individually and that is not what we want as there is a possibility to say that this [child died of this and that] another child died of something different. They are using a tactic of conquer and divide. All those children died in one place so they must also give us the results at the same time”.

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