Three men appeared briefly in the Wynberg Magistrate’s Court on Thursday in connection with a fatal shootout in front of former president Nelson Mandela’s Constantia home.
Malcolm Wessels, (35) Carl Apollis (32) and Ebrahiem Daniels (42) face a charge of attempted murder. The case was remanded to March 25 for the ”necessary bail information”, said the court’s control prosecutor Maresa Engelbrecht.
She said the three were currently being held at the Tableview police station.
Engelbrecht said Apollis and Daniels indicated that they would be conducting their own defence, while Wessels, had employed an attorney to represent him.
The court appearance was a sequel to a shooting on Tuesday evening which left a former South African Defence Force major dead. Ex-major George Makume was shot by police after allegedly cocking an army-issue R4 assault rifle outside the guarded home of Mandela.
Makume, who was variously described by defence authorities as ”disgruntled and ill-disciplined” allegedly went to the home of Mandela and demanded to speak to either Mandela or former Archbishop of Cape Town Desmond Tutu or his successor Njongonkulu Ndungane.
Makume, upon hearing they were not available, allegedly went to his car to fetch the assault rifle and died when he stormed the gate to the private residence.
The two other people with Makume were apprehended at the scene. The third was arrested later in Knysna in the Western Cape. According to Bokaba, the three men were all Capetonians and were not employed by the SA National Defence Force (SANDF).
Makume had been dismissed from the SANDF for ill-discipline after being absent without leave for three months. He was reportedly embroiled in a dispute with his former employers about his pension. He was also wanted for the theft of military weapons — one of which was recovered at the scene of Tuesday’s shooting.
Free State police on Monday offered a R30 000 reward for information on his whereabouts in connection with the robbery of four assault rifles and 120 rounds of ammunition from the Sasolburg Commando. He had been granted amnesty by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for six offences ranging from weapons theft to attempted murder. – Sapa