By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has withdrawn the case against 52 military veterans accused of holding ministers hostage last year.
The group had been accused of holding ministers Thandi Modise, Mondli Gungubele and deputy minister Thabang Makwetla hostage last October for close to three hours.
The NPA on Tuesday withdrew the case against the 52 accused without offering much explanation for the move.
“The State is of the view that there is no prima facie case because neither the identity nor the individual acts committed by each individual accused can be proven,” it said in a statement.
The NPA also cited the manner in which the arrest was conducted, saying it “also complicated identification as everyone on the scene was arrested except for the hostages”.
“A process of elimination was then used to establish who were the attendees and or employees of the hotel and who were the actual captors of the alleged hostage victims. After that process, the police released some of the people who could not be linked before they even appeared in court.
“The accused now before the court cannot be linked to the offence for the reasons stated,” reads the statement.
EXPLAINER | Reasons for withdrawal of case against group of military veterans pic.twitter.com/UEpowBqHix
— NPASouthAfrica (@NPA_Prosecutes) May 18, 2022
Initially, there were 53 accused, but one has since died.
The arrested veterans were facing 27 charges: one count of conspiracy to kidnap and 26 counts of kidnapping.