A former pupil of Ithuteng Trust school principal Jackie Maarohanye, who turned state witness against her and one of her co-accused, was arrested in the Protea Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
Police spokesperson Constable Sefako Xaba said Simphiwe Ncoguthu (24) was arrested in connection with a theft case levelled against him by Maarohanye in 2005.
Ncoguthu was supposed to testify in a kidnap case after it was alleged that Ronnie Nyakale and Maarohanye had kidnapped him from his Orlando home last February.
Ncoguthu was stripped naked and paraded through the streets where Maarohanye and some of the pupils from her Ithuteng Trust school allegedly beat him up.
Maarohanye was arrested and released on R2 000 bail but Nyakale was never arrested and the case was eventually struck off the roll after the docket was mistakenly taken to Orlando Magistrate’s Court instead of to Protea.
Ncoguthu was the only witness who made an appearance in court on Tuesday to testify against ”the Angel of Soweto”, but was arrested before the court proceedings.
This led to the case being postponed to May 16, after other witnesses and their lawyers failed to make an appearance.
Ncoguthu’s mother, who had accompanied him, cried when police took her son away.
She later returned to court to wait for the Angel of Soweto’s case to take place.
Mama Jackie’s supporters, mostly pupils in their school uniforms, packed the tiny Soweto courtroom to capacity.
The courtroom was so full that some of Maarohanye’s supporters remained standing and others sitting on top of each other throughout the court proceedings.
Most wore T-shirts with the inscriptions, ”Sofasilahlane” [till death do us part] and ”We love Mama Jackie nine-nine”.
After hours of waiting for the court proceedings, the accused were called into the dock.
While her co-accused entered the courtroom quietly, Maarohanye, in a sophisticated fawn suit, made a ”hola seven” sign with her fingers causing commotion and noise in the room.
When the case was postponed, Mama Jackie was reluctant to leave the courtroom as photographers were waiting for her outside.
Photographers were threatened by Maarohanye’s supporters when they tried to take her pictures. Her supporters covered her face with their jackets.
She eventually managed to sneak into her Toyota Rav4.
All her supporters left in a bus.
The Angel of Soweto and the three co-accused — Thembi Dladla, Patricia Molaba and Ronnie ”Papa Action” Nyakalane — are charged with kidnapping and assault after a Sowetan reporter, Vusi Ndlovu, and driver Mabu Nkadimeng were allegedly held hostage for over six hours.
The two had gone to the school in Kliptown to conduct an interview with the principal in February.
Maarohanye was later arrested after she was spotted in Pretoria by one of President Thabo Mbeki’s guards. — Sapa