Court to rule on murder-accused Mandla Msibi’s bail bid

Former Mpumalanga agriculture MEC Mandla Msibi and his co-accused on Tuesday will find out whether they will be released on bail following their arrest on murder and attempted murder charges.

UPDATE: Murder-accused ex-Mpumalanga MEC Mandla Msibi granted bail

Last Friday the Nelspruit Magistrates Court reserved judgment on the matter after the court heard arguments from both the defence and the state.

Msibi, 45, and his two co-accused, Anele Sonke Mnisi, 26, and Njabulo Mkhonto, 28, face 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.

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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.

Msibi was a member of the ANC’s provincial executive committee (PEC) and head of elections for Mpumalanga before he was fired from his job by Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane following his arrest.

During his bail hearing last Wednesday, Magistrate Suzan Monaledi had to adjourn proceedings after a bomb scare at the court.

Monaledi received a message that there was a bomb in the building, but after police searched the court it was found that there was no bomb.

Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe 

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