Lying under oath accused in court
ANC councillor death probe slammed by Cosatu
AMAN accused of lying under oath in connection with the murder of a Rustenburg councillor, briefly appeared in the Rustenburg Regional Court yesterday.
The case against Emmanuel Masoka was postponed to August 11, for disclosure of the docket contents.
Masoka was a witness during the murder trial of former Rustenburg councillor Moss Phakoe.
Phakoe was gunned down when he arrived at his home in Rustenburg Noord on March 14, 2009.
He had been away putting up ANC posters for the 2009 general election.
He was killed two days after submitting a dossier containing evidence of corruption in the Rustenburg municipality to the late local government minister Sicelo Shiceka.
Former Rustenburg mayor Matthew Wolmarans and his bodyguard Enoch Matshaba were arrested for Phakoe’s murder.
Masoka had testified during the trial that Wolmarans confessed to him that he had killed Phakoe when the two shared a cell at the Hartbeespoortdam police station near Brits, after Wolmarans’ arrest.
Wolmarans was sentenced to 20 years in jail while Matshaba was sentenced to life. Masoka later deposed in an affidavit that his testimony had been false, resulting in the release of Wolmarans and Matshaba from prison.
He was charged with perjury for making conflicting statements under oath.
Cosatu said Phakoe was killed for exposing corruption.
“We want to know why this man (Masoka) had to change his statement, why is the State not appealing and we want to know who killed Moss,” said Cosatu deputy secretary Solly Phetoe yesterday.
Phetoe, flanked by Phakoe’s son Papiki, lamented that Phakoe’s family was neglected even though he died working for the ANC.
“It is painful no one wants to take care of Moss’s family, especially the children. The worst thing is that Moss was killed after putting up posters for national election campaign…”
Masoka is in custody serving a sentence on an unrelated matter. – ANA
It’s painful no one wants to take care of Moss’s family