Court rules Mancoba accused have a case to answer

Members of the controversial Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries, accused of the 2018 Ngcobo police killings, have failed to have the case against them discharged.

The four accused — Andani Monco, 35, Kwanele Ndlwana, 27, Siphosomzi Tshefu, 26, and Phumzile Mhlatywa, 50 — appeared before judge Robert Griffiths at the Mthatha high court sitting in Butterworth on Wednesday to mount their defence against the state’s case.

They argued that the state did not have a credible case against them. However, the application was dismissed.

“There are four confessions by all the four accused, and I had ruled them admissible,” Griffiths said.

“That ruling still stands. All the evidence is before the court.”

The four accused face 20 charges, including conspiracy, murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition, among other charges.

They applied for a discharge in line with Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

The basis of their application was that there were no independent state witnesses and that the state failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that they were guilty.

They also challenged the credibility and reliability of state witnesses, including Siphesihle Tatsi.

Tatsi, the former youngest member of the church, was also an accused. He pleaded guilty and testified against his co-accused. Tatsi was sentenced to 241 years on July 26 2023, but will effectively serve an 18-year sentence.

Monco said: “There is no sufficient evidence that the accused committed the said offence.

“The state failed to deliver its onus, which is to prove [the case] beyond reasonable doubt.

“The evidence of the state witness, Mr Tatsi, who implicated the accused, is not reliable nor credible. It’s of poor quality to be relied on.”

The accused charged that Tatsi’s evidence was not corroborated by Noluvo Mancoba, who allegedly told the accused to implicate the police in assaulting and coercing them into making confessions.

Noluvo is the widow of Mancoba Seven Angels Ministries cult founder Sipho Mancoba.

Griffiths said Tatsi’s evidence was not poor.

“The evidence of the confession is corroborated by the

The evidence of the confession is corroborated by the evidence of Tatsi. This is very important in this case

evidence of Tatsi. This is very important in this case.

“It was obvious that Mrs Mancoba would not corroborate evidence that she defeated the ends of justice.

“It is unfortunately incorrect that there is no evidence,” the judge when dismissing the application said.

The state prosecutor had earlier opposed the application, saying that there was a prima facie case and that all evidence had been obtained lawfully, and was evaluated in totality.