Another month in jail for Vuwani violence suspects

The 18 accused of involvement in the Vuwani violence were denied bail in the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court last Friday. The judgement was met with dissatisfaction from family and members of the community and some cried uncontrollably.

The suspects stand accused of being behind incidents of violence in Vuwani that left more than 20 schools gutted. Government trucks, tribal offices and houses belonging to those suspected to be informers were also burnt down. Damage to infrastructure is estimated at more than half  a billion rands. The incidents of violence still affect more than 50 000 school children who are stranded as there is no schooling in the area.

Early last Friday, confusion reigned as friends and relatives went to Malamulele, not knowing that the court case had been moved to Thohoyandou. Surprisingly enough, there was a heavy police presence at the Malamulele Magistrate's Court, which made people believe that the accused would be appearing there.

In Thohoyandou, a heavy police contingent was deployed in court and along all strategic points, with a police helicopter hovering over the  buildings. The court was filled to capacity, with some people standing inside and hundreds others left outside the courtroom.

Police had a hectic day in trying to control the huge crowd. Early on during the application the defence argued that there were no grounds for not granting bail, but the State said it would have negative repercussions to release the accused.

The judgement of the bail application started late and Magistrate Caswell Ntsane took nearly an hour to outline the merits and demerits of the application and ended up denying all of them bail. He postponed the case to 1 July for further investigations and to have the dockets summarized.

Handing down judgement, Ntsane said even though the alleged offences were schedule one offences, they should not be underestimated as damage caused was of significant magnitude. He said releasing the accused would not serve the interests of justice.

He elaborated at length on the alleged roles played by Makhado Councillor Gideon  Tshavhuyo (38) and a teacher, Edzisani Muthathe (50), and explained the influence Muthathe had in the community and that, as secretary of the Pro Makhado Task Team, he had never publicly denounced violence. Ntsane also mentioned that Tshavhuyo had supplied food and transport to the protesters.

He said that there were still suspects who had not been arrested yet and if the accused were released, it would have an adverse effect on witnesses. He also likened the burnings and destruction of property to sponsored urban terrorism.

Immediately after judgement was passed, Ntsane had to caution the gallery that was making noise in disapproval.

The defence have indicated they were not satisfied by the judgement and that they would appeal the outcome. Angry  community members refused to comment, saying they feared being targets of the police. Limpopo police spokesperson Col Ronel Otto confirmed that more suspects were still to be arrested in connection with the cases in Vuwani. "We have intensified our visibility and patrols in the areas and we urge the community to work with us and not against us," she said.

Date:13 June 2016

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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