Ex-Bafana player denied bail
Zinhle Khumalo
Former Bafana Bafana player Lebohang Morula’s bail application was yesterday dismissed at the Boksburg Magistrates’ Court.
Magistrate Emmanuel Magampa ruled that Morula, above, was “a person who has a propensity to commit offences and has not done anything to convince the court otherwise”.
Morula and his two co-accused were charged with contravening the Communications Act after being found in possession of a signal jamming device.
It was alleged he had been found with a similar device on two other occasions.
The three were arrested on April 8 after police received a tipoff of an imminent hijacking of a truck transporting cigarettes.
Police said as they were driving along Main Reef Road in Boksburg, they noticed a vehicle fitting the description of one of the cars that would allegedly be used in the robbery, and they pulled it over.
In an affidavit, Morula told the court the device was used to block business communication to protect “trade secrets”, as he was a taxi operator.
He said as far as he knew, there was nothing wrong with being in possession of the device.
Investigative officer Constable Derrick Masondo had previously told the court the device was used to block signals of cellphones and tracking devices and in the event of a robbery it made it impossible to locate the stolen vehicle.
“With three pending cases against him, the likelihood is strong that if released on bail he will commit a fourth,” Magampa ruled in dismissing Morula’s bail application.
The case was postponed to May 26 for further investigation.
Morula was arrested earlier this year in Ogies, Mpumalanga, for robbery and was released on R15 000 bail.
He has also been arrested in Garankuwa, but that case was withdrawn, and he has a pending case of attempted murder in Brits.
He has previous convictions in 1986 and 2004.
Morula’s co-accused – Obed Sithangu and Sizabantu Mgabhi – were granted R1 000 bail each.
Sithangu and Mgabhi were found to have no previous convictions or pending cases.