‘New facts’ emerge in Brown Mogotsi’s perjury case

The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court has heard that new facts have emerged in the case of alleged political fixer Brown Mogotsi.

He was arrested on 15 May and charged with defeating the ends of justice, perjury, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, as well as discharging a firearm in a public or municipal area.

His bail appeal was denied last month.

Mogotsi is accused of orchestrating his own attempted assassination on 3 November 2025 in Vosloorus.

During his last appearance on 3 August 2026, the state indicated it was ready to proceed to trial. However, Mogotsi’s lawyer, Makau Sekgatja, argued against this, saying the state was yet to hand over witness statements.

On Thursday, Sekgatja confirmed that the State had furnished the defence with the requested statements. However, the statements have been redacted to conceal the names and addresses of the witnesses, per the magistrate’s previous ruling.

“The safety of the witnesses is very, very important to this court, you know, and whenever one deals with matters of this nature, one has to be very careful in that the lives of the persons who are to be witnesses are not jeopardised,” said the magistrate in his ruling.

“The names and the addresses are protected for good reasons because there are cases where persons’ names and addresses have been revealed and the next day we see on the news and we hear that those persons have been eliminated by way of death, been killed, and that’s the most important thing in this court.”

‘New facts’ in Mogotsi’s case

Sekgatja further told the court that Mogotsi would apply for bail on new facts at the next appearance.

“I just want to place it on record that I have a commitment on that particular date. However, my counsel will be present to actually proceed with that particular bail application on that date,” Sekgatja told the court.

The matter was postponed to Tuesday, 25 August 2026, for the bail application on new facts. Mogotsi will remain in custody.