WATCH | NPA tells court why ‘KT’ Molefe should not get bail

“Circumstances have changed from facing one count of murder – he [Katiso “KT” Molefe] now faces five counts of murder.” 

This was the argument by the state prosecutor in opposing Molefe’s appeal for bail in the Johannesburg high court on Thursday.

Alexandra magistrate Renier Boshoff denied Molefe bail on August 20, and he launched an appeal in the high court. 

Molefe’s lawyer argued that the decision to deny him bail was baseless and wrong.

But the prosecutor argued that the circumstances regarding the charges Molefe now faces had changed compared with when judge Aubrey Ledwaba granted him R100,000 bail in the case of the assassination of Vereeniging engineer Armand Swart in June.

Molefe was arrested in July for the murder of popular DJ Sumbody, real name Oupa Sefoka, and his two bodyguards – Sibusiso Mokoena and Sandile Myeza – in Woodmead in 2022.

He has also been linked to the murder of DJ Vintos, real name Hector Buthelezi, who died in a hail of bullets outside a nightclub in Orlando East, Soweto, in March 2022.

So the appellant definitely has an interest or concern that must be weighing on his mind if he understands that he is now facing five murders with similar motives for the crime.

—  Alexandra magistrate Renier Boshoff

Molefe has also been charged with the attempted murder of Tebogo Thobejane, the former lover of crime-accused businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala.

The prosecutor said Molefe did not seem to grasp the gravity of the charges he now faces. 

“He does not understand the legalities of whether he faces one charge of murder or five charges of murder. In his mind, he now faces a much heavier case than the previous case [Swart’s murder] that he has to address once we get him to trial.

“So the appellant definitely has an interest or concern that must be weighing on his mind if he understands that he is now facing five murders with similar motives for the crime,” the prosecutor said. 

Molefe’s lawyer, Michael Hellens SC, argued that the claim that his client was in a syndicate was unfounded; however, the state argued otherwise. 

“The reason the state used the term ‘syndicate’, and [why it] was also used by the magistrate, is that we’re sitting here with three cases and five deceased people that were all killed with the same similar pattern by the same gunmen and what we allege is [that it is] the same person that ordered things [the killings],” the prosecutor said.

“Now, it doesn’t take much of an academic argument to say that this must be a syndicate, an organised crime syndicate, committing murder of this nature, of contract killers.”

Hellens said the state’s case was speculative and did not prove that Molefe was directly involved in the killings.

“The judge [Ledwaba] who granted him bail [in the Swart case] based on the same personal circumstances of facing premeditated murder, found it [his circumstances] exceptional. There are further charges of premeditated murder and the circumstances remain the same. The opposition to bail is based on the strength of having a solid case,” he said. 

Hellens said the state had not demonstrated a strong case against Molefe, as had been previously stated in the Alexandra magistrate’s court.

“Evidence such as cash deposits, WhatsApp messages and cellphone tower [records] amount to mere speculation,” he said.

“There is no concrete evidence, though that is not the test. I would urge your lordship to find that we’ve established to an exceptional degree, supported by previous judicial judgments, the right to bail based on exceptional circumstances.”

The prosecutor asked the court to dismiss the appeal. 

“I support the magistrate’s [Boshoff] judgment, and I would want to make the point that he was indeed correct in not granting the bail. ”

The matter was postponed until further notice for judgment.

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