Magistrate Simon Fankomo has granted bail of R10 000 each to the five men accused of killing Amos and Zenzele Coka on Pampoenkraal farm in the Mkhondo district on 9 April.
Daniel Malan, Cornelius Greyling, Othard Klingenberg, and Ignatius Steynberg have been in custody for 20 days, and the fifth accused, farm foreman Zenzele Yende for 15 days.
In his ruling, televised live, Fankomo emphasized that the death of the Coka brothers was a grievous loss of ‘the gift of life’. He also noted arguments advanced both by the defence and by the state that police action left much to be desired in this case, and he reflected on a broader range of allegations that pointed to potentially ‘deep’ and unaddressed problems in the area.
On the arguments for bail more narrowly, the court noted that it was common cause that the accused posed no flight risk. The state had argued that the accused would, if granted bail, interfere with witnesses, but the court found that ‘no evidence’ had been led to justify this claim.
In granting bail, Fankomo said none of the accused had previous convictions or had charges pending against them, and noted that the legal presumption of innocence required that pretrial detention may not be punitive or prejudicial.
Furthermore, the court ruled that the bail hearing was on a ‘schedule 5’ rather than ‘schedule 6’ offence, as the state had tried to argue. A ‘schedule 6’ offence is one of ‘common purpose’ – in this case, murder pursuant to a conspiracy, treating the accused basically as members of a gang who planned to commit double-murder. That was ruled against by the magistrate.
This ‘schedule 6’ argument was challenged on several fronts during the bail hearing, but perhaps the most telling rebuttal came after the defence indicated that police had been called over an hour before the Coka brothers were shot, though the police station is only 10 minutes away, by associates of the accused. The police did not come.
Chief investigating officer Vukile David Nhlapho conceded that if the police had gone to the scene as soon as they were called, the Coka brothers would still be alive. He also could not dispute that it would be ‘ridiculous’ for a gang conspiring to murder to call the police over an hour beforehand to come to the scene and witness the crime.
The magistrate also noted that video footage revealed during the bail hearing showed that the witnesses who fingered the accused made some ‘untrue’ claims, but suggested that in light of broader allegations against some of the accused dating back to 2020 and earlier, the state’s case against the accused may still be ‘strong’.
Fankomo said the accused met all other criteria to be granted bail.