Camperdown - Five men accused of gunning down a 68-year-old SA Communist Party member were granted bail of R10 000 each in the Camperdown Magistrate’s court on Wednesday.
The decision by Magistrate Zandile Mbatha was met with stony silence in the public gallery that was filled with SACP members, including Ntombizethu Dlamini, the wife of the slain SACP member Philip Dlamini.
However, the loud cheers of about 200 ANC members could be heard clearly in the court room, even though they were outside the court precinct on the road.
The five men had, through their advocate, Shane Matthews, told the court that they intended pleading not guilty to the charges of murder and attempted murder.
The five accused are Bafanyama Shange, Buka Shozi, Sifiso Madondo, Zamakwake Shozi and Nhlanhla Majola.
Matthews had also said his clients could afford a sum of R1,000 for bail.
However, Mbatha rejected this, saying that the charges were serious.
The five are accused of gunning down Phillip Dlamini and wounding another four people at a SACP meeting held on January 24 at the Kandokweni sports ground in Fredville in Inchanga.
At the men’s previous appearance in court last week prosecutor Neville Loubser said the state would be opposing bail, but backtracked on Wednesday and did not oppose bail.
Asked by Mbatha about the strength of the state’s? against the accused, Loubser said the state had eyewitness statements and was busy getting forensic evidence.
He said the five men had handed in their weapons for ballistic testing.
“We are hoping all these tests will be completed in six weeks.”
At the time of the shooting, an ANC meeting to nominate candidates for Ward four was underway about three kilometres from the SACP gathering.
Another man, Bongani Hlatshwayo, was also killed in ?the incident and several cars were damaged.
The ANC, SACP, and the Congress of South African Trade Unions are part of a long-standing tripartite alliance. But tensions ?between the ANC and the SACP have been high in KwaZulu-Natal with the SACP’s? provincial executive committee announcing earlier this month that it was pulling out of all processes to nominate candidates for the upcoming local government elections.
The five men were also ordered by Mbatha on Wednesday to report to the Inchanga police station twice a week and not to interfere with state witnesses.
The case was postponed to April 21.
As the stony-faced SACP supporters left the building, they were taunted by jubilant ANC supporters who showed them the thumbs down.
Police used a cordon to separate the two groups. Knobkerries, golf clubs and sjamboks could be seen.
Two bus loads of SACP supporters left in one direction, while taxis took the ANC supporters in another.
Dlamini’s wife, dressed in black, left in a Toyota Tazz, but not before she had a last look across the police cordon at ANC members, who were celebrating the fact that the men accused of killing her husband had been granted bail.
African News Agency
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