By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court has heard that the political fixer Oupa Brown Mogotsi plotted to escape from the cells disguised as a correctional services official.
Mogotsi is facing charges of perjury, defeating the ends of justice and unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, linked to an alleged staged assassination attempt in November 2025.
The State alleges Mogotsi shot his own vehicle to create the impression that he had been targeted.
According to the investigating officer’s statement, read into the record by the prosecutor, police received information about the escape plan on the morning of 20 August 2026.
“New information came to light on the 20th of August 2026 at 7.29 in the morning,” the officer said, adding that he had received a call from Colonel David Masenya of the Johannesburg correctional services centre.
Masenya told him “that the plan is that he would disguise in the uniform of correctional officials and would walk out of the court cells.”
Following the tip-off, the officer said arrangements were made to monitor the court on Tuesday.
When Mogotsi appeared later that day, additional security measures were visible. “I noticed that his ankle was cuffed with leg irons around his feet,” the officer said.
He added that police officers who had escorted Mogotsi from the correctional centre to court had received the same warning from Masenya.
A full written report on the alleged plot had not yet reached the investigating officer before Tuesday’s proceedings.
His defence argued that circumstances had changed since his earlier bail applications, which the magistrates’ court rejected twice and the High Court once on appeal, each time over concerns about unverifiable home addresses.
In an affidavit read out by his lawyer, Advocate Nthabiseng Mohomane, Mogotsi said he had since discovered that the person who signed the lease for his previous address was not the property’s lawful owner.
The state opposed the application, with the investigating officer disputing the significance of the new address.
With full report still outstanding on the plan to escape, prosecutor asked for a week’s postponement, a request Mohomane did not oppose but said she wanted the finalised.
The magistrate granted the postponement to the 1st of September 2026.
Meanwhile the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court continues to hear bail application of attorney Charlotte Tibana and her husband, metro police officer Peter Nonyane. They are accused of siphoning money from estates while Tibana was serving as an executor.