- A former senior Hawks officer claimed that the 16 victims were not the targets of the Mdlalose Tavern massacre.
- The man, who is seeking bail, revealed that the victims were casualties in a battle between two rival Basotho mortuary societies.
- He claimed that he helped police arrest two of the suspected killers.
The 16 patrons cornered and shot to death at the Mdlalose tavern in Soweto were not the intended targets, the Orlando Magistrates Court has heard.
The damning allegations came to light when one of the five men accused of killing 16 people at the watering hole in Nomzamo Park, Orlando East, in July, testified Monday.
The men face 19 counts of murder and one count of aggravated robbery.
All three murders were committed before the massacre.
During his bail application, the defendant, a former branch commander of the Hawks, told the court that the victims of the massacre were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The former police officer, who was ordered by the court not to be named, claimed that the killings were caused by clashes between two rival Basotho mortuary societies, namely Terene ea Khosi Chakela and Terene ea Khosi Mokata.
The man testified that the two groups helped with the burials of miners from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana who died in South Africa.
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He said he had joined the Terene ea Khosi Mokata mortuary society in January 2021, adding that each member paid a monthly fee of R150, and the scheme had 900,000 active members.
Chakela was formed in 2019 by members who had left Mokata.
“Initially, when I joined [Mokata], I was an ordinary member. Upon learning that I owned taxis, they began to hire [my vehicles for] funerals,” he said.
“I later held the position of secretary of the society. The president is Sarel Sello, a citizen of Lesotho. Its vice president is Elliot Radebe, a citizen of South Africa.”
According to him, a week before the murders, members of Mokata had murdered a member of Chakela.
The Chakela faction then sought revenge, he told the court.
They had heard that their opponents were in the tavern.
The man went on to say that on July 10 and 11 he was at his farm in Matatiele when he saw reports of the fatal shooting at the tavern on television.
A few days later, he received a call from Radebe to go to Stilfontein in the northwest for a meeting, he said.
“I went. He informed me that the police were looking for some members of our society linked to the tavern shooting. A month later, I saw Sello being interviewed on TV about the Krugersdorp gang rapes allegedly carried out by zama zamas from Lesotho.
“Some time later, I met Seal, sitting with a journalist from the Daily Sun in a restaurant in South Gate Mall. The cameras had been set up. I had not been informed about that interview. Seal said that I should sit next to him to be an interpreter. between him and the journalist”.
Getting to know Bheki Cele
During the interview, Sello was apparently asked about the tavern shooting, which he denied knowing anything about.
“The journalist then asked him if he would sit down with Police Minister Bheki Cele to help the police with their investigation. He immediately agreed.”
The defendant said that the journalist then called Lirandzu Themba, Cele’s spokeswoman.
Themba informed the reporter that she and Cele were in Bloemfontein and would only be available for a meeting at OR Tambo International Airport around 6:00 p.m., she testified.
“Sello asked me to join that meeting and act as an interpreter again. He thought my experience as a police officer would help him deal with Cele. We then met Cele at the InterContinental Hotel at the airport.
“Cele wanted to know what our meeting was about. The journalist responded that Sello was our president and that some of our members were allegedly involved in the shooting at the tavern.
READ | Soweto tavern shooting: Families of 16 patrons slain cornered by blood of 5 defendants
Sello said that members of Terene ea Khosi Chakela were responsible for the Krugersdorp gang rapes. He also told Cele that the police were looking for some members of Terene ea Khosi Mokata for the tavern shooting incident. police and hand over their members that the police were looking for,” he continued.
Later he had another meeting with police officers, including Major General Khumalo, Brigadier Louw and Colonel Masilela.
The applicant promised to work with the police to arrest the members of the funeral society in connection with the shooting.
Some of the wanted suspects were in Lesotho and he agreed to take them to South Africa to arrest them.
The officers said they were under pressure and threatened to detain him for 48 hours.
“Some of the people on that list were in Vereeniging and Klerksdorp. Most were in Lesotho. We went to those two towns, including a border [between South Africa and Lesotho].
“It didn’t matter how hard we tried to convince them to come. Unfortunately, none of them were willing to give themselves up. Then we went back to Johannesburg.”
“On September 18, I received a call from Defendant 1 who wanted to see me about the tavern murders. He explained that the entire tavern shooting was a mistake. He said that his father-in-law, Defendant 2, was with members of Terene ea Khosi Chakela [when the shooting occurred].
“Defendant 1 said his father-in-law’s friend was shot to death in Kliptown a week before the tavern shooting. They believed our mortuary society was responsible.”
fatal night
He claimed that on the night of the shooting, Defendants 1 and 2 were contacted by Terene ea Khosi Mokata, saying that their members were in the tavern and that they were “going to kill them to avenge the murder of their member in Kliptown.”
“When they got to the tavern, [accused 1 and 2] he didn’t go in to see if our members were there. They just started shooting while standing outside. Fortunately, our members had already left the tavern when they arrived. They even killed some of its members.
“Defendant 1 wanted to join our society because his colleagues threatened them. He sought protection from us. I told him that he could take it to the police since I was a former officer. Within a few days, I delivered it. at the Norwood Police Station. Then we went to Kimberley to find his mother-in-law to have him arrested.”
Police then arrested him “suddenly” for frustrating the ends of justice, he accused.
“The police tortured me and two other defendants before taking our statements. The statements were taken under duress. I only found out in court that I was also charged with 16 murders.”
The man claimed that he was married to six wives and had six children.
One of the wives has since died.
He stated that he was innocent and that he would comply with the conditions of the bail in the event that it was granted.
The hearing is expected to continue on January 16.
