/ 20 May 2010

Terre’Blanche murder accused back in court in June

Terre'blanche Murder Accused Back In Court In June

The bail application of one of the people arrested for the murder of former Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging leader Eugene Terre’Blanche was postponed to June 10 in the Ventersdorp Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.

The court heard testimony about Chris Mahlangu’s background and citizenship from his uncle.

Earlier, prosecutor George Baloyi read out an affidavit from the Home Affairs Department stating there was no record of Mahlangu on the population register.

He read the affidavit to investigating officer Lieutenant Colonel Tsietsi Mano and asked if he agreed with its contents.

Baloyi said according to the affidavit, Mahlangu said he was born on September 19 1982, but because his details could not be found, he either entered the country illegally or gave different particulars when he entered South Africa from Zimbabwe.

Mahlangu, who has no passport or identity document, claimed his papers were destroyed in a shack fire.

The only Chris Mahlangu the department found was born in August 1985.

Even if he had applied for proper documents, nothing stopped him from moving in and out of South Africa freely.

The department recommended he not be granted bail, which Mahlangu’s lawyer, Puna Moroko, objected to, stating it was not legally qualified to say this.

During his stint in the witness box, Mano was asked why Mahlangu used another person’s cellphone after the murder when he was allegedly in possession of Terre’Blanche’s phone.

Mano said: “On the way back from the farm, the Terre’Blanche phone was constantly ringing. He [Mahlangu] was annoyed. He took out the SIM card, chewed on it and threw it away.”

Mano said during the investigation, he obtained a detailed account that showed the calls came from the Terre’Blanche home.

Amendment bid dismissed
Moroko earlier said he was looking forward to “wrestling” with Mano over his testimony from a previous bail hearing.

During that testimony, Mano said that according to the preliminary summary of what he believed were the facts, Mahlangu and his 15-year-old co-accused had planned Terre’Blanche’s murder in the stables on his farm.

He alleged they had planned to kill him on a Friday after a row over missing cattle and unpaid wages, but killed him the next day, on April 3, Easter Saturday, instead.

He said Terre’Blanche had been struck 28 times with an iron rod and panga while sleeping, and had not seen it coming. The boy then called the police from a borrowed cellphone and the police picked them up from the side of a road.

Moroko on Wednesday had tried to get the charges against his client amended from a schedule six to a schedule five crime as he intended claiming self-defence.

A schedule five offence refers to unplanned crimes. Magistrate Magaola Foso dismissed the application, saying it could be raised during argument.

‘He is not a violent person’
Testimony on Mahlangu’s background was then presented by his uncle, Isiah Ngobeni, who said he first met Mahlangu when he was a boy in Chiredzi, Zimbabwe.

He said when police told him about Terre’Blanche’s murder, they never said Mahlangu had committed the offence, only that he was a suspect.

He did not believe it because he did not know Mahlangu was working in the Ventersdorp area.

“He is a humble person, he respects me, he never had a grudge or quarrel with me. He was not a person to be aggrieved,” Ngobeni said.

“He is not a violent person and always, he was obedient. When I talked to him he always said ‘uncle forgive me if I offend you’.”

The court heard Mahlangu had five siblings, and about 20 other family members living in South Africa.

Ngobeni said he would accommodate Mahlangu if asked to.

“Yes, with conditions. He will be obedient, but I don’t know if that will change … but he will listen to me.”

Magistrate Foso asked whether Mahlangu’s family would send him back to South Africa if he went to Zimbabwe, knowing he was in trouble.

“His mom and dad won’t push him into the fire,” Ngobeni said.

Foso said he asked this because if Mahlangu went back to Zimbabwe, Ngobeni would be the only link with him to get him back.

“Do you see the picture?” said Foso, pointing out that for a year Ngobeni had not known Mahlangu’s whereabouts.

Ngobeni said Mahlangu, who left school in grade four or five, also had a drinking problem, but he was willing to help him.

“Today he requested me to buy him a packet of cigarettes, and so I felt pity for him and so I bought it.” — Sapa