Pretoria – A murder case against two men accused of killing prominent North West businessman Wandile Bozwana in October was postponed on Friday to December 9 by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court.
The suspects, aged between 30 and 40, appeared briefly before magistrate Magowanbal Naidoo on Friday on several charges including that of murder, attempted murder, possession of a stolen vehicle, contravention of the electronic communication act and possession of unlicensed ammunition.
According to the charge sheet read out by Chief Prosecutor Matric Luphondo, the accused are facing “a schedule six offence”.
The prosecution asked that the matter be postponed to allow for further investigations. Although this was not opposed by the defence, lawyer Simon Sinosi said they may approach the court for a bail application before December 9.
“At this stage there are still some investigations to be done by the prosecution, especially the identification parade. As a result we are not yet ready to proceed with the bail application, hence we did not oppose the application for the postponement,” Sinosi said in an interview outside the court.
Media were barred from identifying the two suspects who are yet to appear as part of an identity parade.
The police’s Provincial Investigation Unit which has been working tirelessly since the crime took place and arrested the suspects on Thursday in Johannesburg.
Ammunition and a signal jammer device were seized during the arrest.
Investigations are continuing, as police believe that there may be more people involved in the murder.
The North West Business Forum, which offered a R2 million reward for any information that may lead to conviction of the killers, said although they expected some high profile people to be exposed in the case, they were happy with the progress made by the police in making the initial arrests.
Speaking for the forum, Sello Mogodiri, a former Mahikeng municipal manager, said they wanted “justice to prevail”, to know who were the masterminds behind the murder and “what was the motive”.
The forum have always maintained that Bozwana’s murder was a hit.
Bozwana was gunned down in what was suspected to be a hit in Garsfontein, east of Pretoria, on October 2. Gunman fired a number of rounds into the passenger side where he was seated, hitting him nine times. He later died in hospital.
He and a colleague, Mpho Baloyi, had been travelling on the N1 north from Johannesburg when gunmen in a silver grey BMW M3 allegedly pulled up next to their car near the Garsfontein off-ramp and opened fire on the branded Renault Clio.
A total of 12 rounds hit the car. Baloyi, who was driving, was shot twice, but managed to drive to a nearby car dealership to seek help.
African News Agency
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