A member of the Meqheleng Concerned Citizens (MCC) group said it won't be able to contain the anger of Ficksburg residents if eight police officers accused of beating protester Andries Tatane to death get bail.
"I can guarantee you if bail was granted, the community outside here, which is full of anger, they would get out of control and turn violent," Phillip Selokoe, a member of the MCC's executive, told the Ficksburg Regional Court during the bail hearing of the eight policemen.
He was responding to state prosecutor Sello Matlhoko, who asked him whether he could gauge the community's mood and predict what would happen if the eight were granted bail.
Police officers Olebogeng Mphirime, Tehedi Moeketsie, Jonas Skosana and Mphonyane Ntaje face assault charges, while Israel Moiloa and Mothusi Maqana face charges of murder.
Two more Bloemfontein public-order policing unit officers, a lieutenant colonel and sergeant, are to appear alongside them later after being arrested last Wednesday.
'You see what they are able to do'
Selokoe said granting bail so soon after Tatane's funeral — he was buried three days ago — would not be a good thing. Testifying for the state, he said local residents would also lose confidence in the judicial system.
"Especially because the accused are police members."
Asked by the state whether MCC leaders would not be able to contain the anger, Selokoe said definitely not.
"You see what they are able to do when venting anger."
The MCC leader said it was likely that if bail was granted locals would "turn against us and accuse us of being sell-outs".
Selokoe refuted an allegation that the MCC was a political organisation. "We are looking for service delivery to the people from the municipality."
Selokoe urged the court not to grant bail to the policemen in such tense circumstances. It would make things difficult since people also did not get feedback from the municipality.
'Pressure group'
The policemen's lawyer, Koos de Beer, told Selokoe he was not sure that the MCC represented the 128 000 people living in the Sesotho local municipality.
He called the MCC a "pressure group" that existed to bring the community's problems to the municipality's attention. Selokoe denied this and said the MCC was a civic organisation that dealt with service-delivery problems.
De Beer put it to Selokoe that the MCC was using Tatane's death to sensationalise the community's problems and get its point across. Selokoe replied that the MCC had a mission to get service delivery, and at no stage had invited newspapers to get involved.
"As an organisation of the community we are deeply aggrieved by the passing of a member who died a brutal death. There are no words to use to sensationalise the situation."
Regional magistrate Philip Visser later postponed judgment on the bail applications to Friday.
Visser said the process was an emotional issue, but the court could not indulge emotions. It had a duty under the Constitution and had to base its decision on facts. Visser said the court would make its ruling without fear, favour or prejudice. — Sapa