OWN CORRESPONDENT, Pretoria | Friday
PEOPLE’S Poet Mzwakhe Mbuli, who says his conviction for bank robbery and the illegal possession of a handgrenade was part of a conspiracy against him and that evidence had been “planted”, will know on Friday whether his appeal was successful.
Mbuli appealed against his conviction and 13-year prison sentence after he was found guilty of being part of a bank robbery at First National Bank in Waverley, Pretoria, in October 1997.
Mbuli, Happy Skwabane and Ben Masiso argued that the state could not prove their guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
Mbuli said that he was in possession of “sensitive information” regarding drug trafficking and that was a reason for his conviction. He failed to disclose this information during his trial.
The state argued that the allegations of a conspiracy were highly unlikely, as it would mean that all the policemen involved were part of the conspiracy and that they had prepared their evidence accordingly.
Soon after the robbery, police stopped and searched Mbuli’s BMW in which they found R13 818 in First National Bank bags. They also found three firearms, a blue overall and a hand grenade.
Mbuli maintained his innocence throughout the trial.
He claimed he had accompanied his bodyguards to Pretoria because he wanted to question a man about an attempt on his life.
When he stopped at a certain place, an unknown man threw a blue bag into the car and ran away. He said he never knew what was inside the bag.
Mbuli’s counsel, Michael Hellens, launched a sharp attack on what he described as the police’s incompetent and incomplete investigation into the case.
Hellens cast serious suspicion on the evidence of a fingerprint expert. He said it was strange that not a single fingerprint would have been found inside the bank and that no fingerprints were taken from the hand grenade or the money found in the car.
He said it was highly unlikely that Mbuli, who was a well-known personality, would have committed a bank robbery in broad daylight using his own vehicle.
Only one witness could identify the men and there was never any mention of Mbuli’s height. There also was no explanation why more money was recovered than was stolen.
The state admitted there were problems with the evidence against Mbuli, but maintained that the facts were there that the money and other pieces of evidence were found with the three men only minutes after the robbery.