Captain faces court probe

he High Court in Pretoria has issued a subpoena for a police captain who gave Mamelodi taxi boss Vusi Mathibela his passport to travel overseas, thus allegedly violating his bail conditions in the 2015 murder case of businessperson Wandile Bozwana.

The state is applying to have Mathibela’s R50 000 bail forfeited and his bail cancelled after he allegedly violated his bail conditions.

The state said Mathibela, 32, was arrested while preparing to go on holiday to Dubai, despite his bail conditions preventing him from leaving the country.

The state had earlier argued that Mathibela spent four days in Mauritius while out on bail for the murder of Bozwana.

Mathibela was arrested on a separate matter on March 13 on charges of extortion, intimidation and assault. He subsequently appeared in the lower court and is still in custody.

The taxi boss’ lawyer, Annelene van den Heever, argued that Mathibela had complied with his bail conditions, including handing over his passport and a title deed to his property.

She said following arrangements between Captain Xulu and his lawyer, Mathibela was given his passport to travel in 2017.

Xulu was initially part of the police’s investigating team.

However, two officers who took the stand yesterday said he was removed from the case along with other officers.

Constable Evans Mongwe said he was informed that Mathibela was in possession of his passport and did not hand it over.

Mathibela was granted bail subject to a number of conditions, which included that he was not to be arrested on any other offence after his release on bail.

He had to hand over his passport and was not allowed to leave Gauteng without the permission of the investigating officer. He also may not contact witnesses.

It is claimed that he, among others, intimidated and threatened a witness in the case.

Mathibela’s lawyer said it was important that Xulu be located so he could clarify who handed Mathibela his passport.

The matter was postponed to May 15.

Before his death, Bozwana was embroiled in legal wrangles with the North West province over allocation of tenders. He was also chairperson of the North West Business Forum. –