Pretoria - More than five years ago, North West billionaire businessman Wandile Bozwana died in a hail of bullets on the N1, at the Garsfontein off-ramp in Pretoria East.
However, the criminal trial of the four men said to be responsible for the “hit” is still dragging on.
The man feared by residents in Mamelodi, Vusi “Khekhe” Mathibela, also known as Mamelodi’s No 1 Tsotsi, and co-accused Sipho Hudla, Matamela Robert Mutapa and Bonginkosi Paul Khumalo are pulling out all the stops to prove that they were not involved in Bozwana’s alleged assassination.
They all earlier pleaded not guilty to Bozwana’s murder and the attempted murder of his business partner Mpho Baloyi.
Bozwana was shot nine times after a lone gunman fired several times at him while he was a passenger in Baloyi’s car. Another gunman opened fire at Baloyi, but the wounded woman managed to drive off and get help at a nearby glass fitting outlet.
Bozwana died shortly afterwards in Unitas Hospital.
The trial resumed this week yet again in the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, having been postponed about two months ago.
The State has called a police cellphone expert to present technical evidence as to whether the phones of the accused could in any manner be linked to the events of the day on which Bozwana was killed.
Warrant Officer Wynand Venter is still in the witness box, testifying about how the handset of a phone could be linked to cellphone towers to ascertain where the phone was at a particular time.
He, however, did confirm that according to records, there was no communication on the day of the incident between the four accused.
Counsel for Hudla, advocate JP Marais, read out a “confession” which the SAPS claimed he made after his arrest.
According to the “confession”, Hudla said they were on their way to Pretoria, following the car in which Bozwana and Baloyi were travelling in, when Mathibela phoned them to say “we must still carry out the job”.
Hudla has from the start denied that he knew anything about the killing and said he was forced by the police into making a confession.
Marais said this was proof that his client was telling the truth because according to Venter, cellphone records indicated that Hudla did not leave the Joburg area that day.
Another SAPS cellphone expert is expected to take the stand on behalf of the State.
The four accused, meanwhile, remain behind bars.
Pretoria News