The state has argued that granting bail to the five men charged with gunning down two University of Fort Hare employees, and allegedly executing a string of attempted murders, including that of the vice-chancellor, would allow them to eliminate witnesses and finish off an apparent hit list. This was among the reasons given by the investigating officer while opposing the bail bid of former UFH employees Bongani Peter and Wanini Khuza, former SRC member Sicelo Mbulawa, and alleged hitmen Mthobi.
Lawyers of the five men accused of murdering two University of Fort Hare employees clubbed together to buy diesel after it emerged that the Dimbaza Magistrate's Court's backup generator had none to power it.
The defence lawyer for two of the five suspects arrested in connection with the murder of two University of Fort Hare employees and a string of other charges has accused the state of singling them out because they are “soft targets”. Delivering his closing arguments in a bail hearing in the Dimbaza magistrate’s court on Friday, attorney Ronny Lesele said the state, in arresting his clients, had disregarded the “big fish” allegedly involved in the killings and corruption at the university.
“I would never travel from Durban to come and kill people in East London. I am not a killer,” one of the men accused of the murders of University of Fort Hare staff members said. Shocking details leading up to the killings emerged in the Dimbaza magistrate’s court on Wednesday as three of the five men accused of murdering the Fort Hare fleet manager Petrus Roets and Mboneli Vesele, the vice-chancellor’s bodyguard, took the witness box for the first time for the continuation of their bail.
If released on bail, the alleged hitmen arrested for the murders of University of Fort Hare officials would kill witnesses and collapse the State's case, said the investigating officer.