The Evander Magistrate’s Court granted bail to four people who were recently arrested by the Hawks for drug dealing in Leandra.
Those arrested include Oupa Mbatha, a former police reservist in Leandra.
Mbatha was arrested during an intelligence-driven joint disruptive operation by the Hawks’ Serious Organised Crime Investigation based in Middelburg, crime intelligence and the K9-unit on Friday, February 18.
He faces charges of having a stolen firearm, illegal possession of a police uniform, and drug dealing in Leandra.
Information was received and followed up, resulting in a search and seizure operation at the suspect’s house.
During the search, a firearm, a police uniform and drugs at a street value of R500 000 were found and seized.
According to the Hawks, a 9mm Barretta found in Mbatha’s possession was stolen from Leslie Police in April 2010 while he was still a police reservist.
Mbatha appeared together with Lerato Mhlanga and Christopher Sibiya.
They were all represented by the same attorney who presented their affidavits in court in which all of them pledged to adhere to their bail conditions.
They stated that they are not members of any syndicate and they don’t know the witnesses in the case.
They have stated that the state has a weak case against them, but the Hawks and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) is adamant that the case is airtight.
However, neither the NPA nor the investigation officer opposed their bail applications.
In his affidavit, Mbatha said he is still a police reservist at Leandra Police Station, but he has previous fraud convictions against him.
The court heard that Mbatha was deleted from the South African Police Service system and he was not allowed to possess a police uniform.
Mbatha was released on bail of R8 000.
Mhlanga and Sibiya were released on bail of R1000 and their case was postponed to Monday, April 4.
Lucky Mthombeni’s bail hearing was rescheduled for Wednesday, March 3 for his previous conviction profile to be available at the court.
He was arrested along with Mhlanga and Sibiya.
He informed the court that he had previous convictions including a charge of a position of dagga. He could not remember his other convictions.
Mthombeni was released on bail of R10 000.
