IFP Councillor Siboniso Richard Mbatha has had charges of the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition withdrawn against him. Mr Mbatha appeared in the Dundee Magistrates’ Court on Friday on a charge related to an incident on July 13, when he was travelling back to Dundee after an engagement party on Stratford Farm.

He had given a lift to two other men, one of whom told Mr Mbatha that he had found a firearm lying between rocks at Stratford Farm and that the firearm was now in his possession.

He was about to drop off his passengers when he was pulled over by a police patrol van. The van was searched and the firearm seized. All three men were taken to the police station and charged.
Mr Mbatha was in custody for four days before being released on R2 000 bail. The other men were given R1 000 bail.
He said at the time that the incident was ‘a set-up’. On Friday he told the Courier that the court’s decision vindicated his opinion. “I am very grateful, and thank God that truth prevailed.”