Assassination plot accused in custody

THE case against three men accused of plotting a hit on former Mtubatuba mayor Verus Ncamphalala was on Wednesday postponed.

This so the Mtubatuba District Court could set a date for the matter to be transferred to the regional court.

The three accused, Thokozani Zakhele Dlamini, Nhlanhla Maseko and Zakhele Nelson Khanyile, will be remanded in custody until the new court date of 23 February.

While ANC leaders of the Far North Region were among the handful of people in the court gallery, numerous ANC members gathered outside the courthouse in support of Ncamphalala, now the party's Far North Regional Secretary.

They were carrying placards and singing struggle songs.

ANC regional spokesperson Sandile Sibiya said the party is of the view that the accused should not be granted bail because this is a 'critical case'.

Sibiya added that if there are people who identify as ANC members who are implicated in the matter, they should cease identifying as party members.

ANC Youth League national spokesperson Sizo Mkhize said the case is worrying because several ANC leaders, some from the party’s youth league, have been victims of political killings, particulary in KZN.

Mkhize urged the law to take its course. 'No one who plans and plots to kill a member of the ANC will continue to be called a comrade. Any ANC member found to have been involved in the plot to kill the regional secretary must be expelled from the party,' Mkhize said.

He added that political killings cannot be allowed to continue without consequence.

ANC Far North Regional Chair Sphile Mdaka said the fact that the three accused are not seeking legal aid but are paying for costly legal representatives from their own pockets, indicates there are other people behind the foiled plot.

'All those suspected and implicated should remain behind bars, regardless of who they are and the positions they hold in society,' Mdaka said.

Dlamini is accused of being the mastermind behind the foiled plot, while Maseko stands accused of being the person who would have carried out the hit.

Khanyile is accused of transporting the two to a meeting in Mkhuze where the plot would have been discussed.

Accused number one, Dlamini, was previously denied bail because of the seriousness of the charge against him, while Maseko was denied bail because he is considered a flight risk.

Khanyile was denied bail because he was allegedly found with a cellphone while in custody at the police holding cells.