Speaker 1: Right, let's get out to the courts. Then. This is
Speaker 1: going on at the Randburg Magistrates Court twelve members of
Speaker 1: the South African National Defense Force and they're facing a
Speaker 1: number of charges related to the murder of Hawk's investigator
Speaker 1: Franz Martipa almost two years ago. You may recall we
Speaker 1: had any Van fear and from open Secrets giving us
Speaker 1: background on that case. So what happened in the courts,
Speaker 1: Nako Kanya and tumble our ewn reported colleague is there
Speaker 1: was there and is keeping an eye on things. Nako Kanya,
Speaker 1: How far has the case progressed? What do we know
Speaker 1: so far?
Speaker 2: Good afternoon, John, to you and the listeners as well.
Speaker 2: So really a long day in terms of procedure. We've
Speaker 2: dealt with I think the bulk of the bail application
Speaker 2: throughout the day. The matter has just been rolled over
Speaker 2: a few minutes ago until Thursday for further hearing, just
Speaker 2: to sort out the addresses of some of the accused,
Speaker 2: being South African National Defense Forced members, particularly of the
Speaker 2: special forces. John, there just was some concerns about which
Speaker 2: address for the purpose of the bail application was more
Speaker 2: suitable that of their army barracks or that of their
Speaker 2: where their families really are. So the court just wanting
Speaker 2: the defense lawyers of some of the accused to sort
Speaker 2: that out and come back and having verified with the
Speaker 2: investigating officer the exact residential addresses of those accused in
Speaker 2: the matter. But other than that John, it really just
Speaker 2: was a day of going through the applications and the
Speaker 2: statements made by the accused to the court in furnishing
Speaker 2: their requests for bail or asking for five thousand rand bail,
Speaker 2: or saying to the courts that they are upstanding members
Speaker 2: of the public, that they don't plan on, you know,
Speaker 2: contacting any of the possible witnesses and the matter. In fact,
Speaker 2: they don't know any of the witnesses in the matter,
Speaker 2: telling the court that they in fact also even though
Speaker 2: against John at this point, and I made this point
Speaker 2: a little earlier, that we're not at the stage where
Speaker 2: they need to make a plea to the court, but
Speaker 2: they just wanted to tell the court as early on
Speaker 2: as now that they really have no business in this
Speaker 2: particular matter. They don't know the victim, the first being
Speaker 2: Frank Matipo, who was killed in twenty twenty three in August.
Speaker 2: They say they have no knowledge of his murder, no
Speaker 2: knowledge of the abduction of two foreign nationals at the
Speaker 2: Mall of Africa either. And we're only finding out, John,
Speaker 2: just as we walked out of the court that in
Speaker 2: fact there are a total of three murder charges that
Speaker 2: they're going to face, with the exception of accused number eleven.
Speaker 2: So initially, and Open Secrets would have told you this
Speaker 2: as well. In some of their coverage early on, it
Speaker 2: was only thoughts that France Matifa was the only person
Speaker 2: who may have murdered been murdered, even though there were
Speaker 2: suspicions that this particular special forces group was involved with
Speaker 2: much more sinister dealings. But the NPA confirming to us
Speaker 2: just a few moments ago, John, that in fact, the
Speaker 2: people who were abducted from the Mall of Africa, who
Speaker 2: were suspected to the ISIS of sas Kits twenty twenty two,
Speaker 2: haven't that now also been declared dead. And so the
Speaker 2: additional two murder charges that we're now seeing will include
Speaker 2: then of those two who were abducted, that of the bodyguard,
Speaker 2: as well as Abdilla Abbertigo, who was the ISIS associates.
Speaker 2: We are told, so three kinds of murder and then
Speaker 2: of course the ones that you did mention a fraud
Speaker 2: of theft, of making false statements as well, and that's
Speaker 2: where we are again. It will be rolled over to
Speaker 2: Thursday just to fine lines the matter of the residential addresses,
Speaker 2: and then the bail outcome will then be made we
Speaker 2: expect later on in the week.
Speaker 1: Thanks so much, very full picture of what happened in
Speaker 1: that Randberg court. Twelve members of the ESSAYNDF facing very
Speaker 1: serious charges. Indeed, it's twenty five minutes past three