By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Nelspruit Magistrates Court on Tuesday granted bail of R20,000 each to axed Mpumalanga agriculture MEC Mandla Msibi and his co-accused.
Mandla and his two co-accused – Anele Sonke Mnisi, 26, and Njabulo Mkhonto, 28 – are facing two counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
This is in connection with a shooting incident where two ANC members, Dingaan Ngwenya and Sindela Lubisi, were shot and killed and another party member was injured in Mbombela on 22 August 2021.
The shooting incident is understood to be related to party infighting over the ANC’s candidate list processes ahead of the local government elections on 1 November.
The trio’s arrest brought the total number of accused in the case to five.
Charlie Ngwenya, 35, and Tsepo Matsane, 30, were arrested in September and appeared in court. They were granted bail of R20,000 each on strict conditions.
Magistrate Suzan Monaledi delivered judgment on Tuesday morning: “Therefore the court is satisfied that all three applicants succeeded to discharge their onus and to satisfy the court that the interests of justice permits their release on bail.”
The trio is now expected back in court 6 December.