Men charged with killing Pete Mihalik are from KZN

One of the men accused of killing prominent Cape Town lawyer Pete Mihalik is facing another murder charge elsewhere in the country.

Sizwe Biyela‚ 26‚ and Nkosinathi Khumalo‚ 31‚ appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court under heavy police guard on Thursday.

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said one of the men was out on bail in connection with another killing “which happened out of his province”.

The pair are now facing charges of murder‚ attempted murder‚ possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition.

Mihalik‚ 50‚ was killed in a hit as he dropped his son and teenage daughter at 7:35am on Tuesday. A man walked up to his Mercedes-Benz GLE 63 and fired two shots through the driver’s door window.

The gunman fled the scene in a silver VW Polo driven by an accomplice.

“On October [30 near the corner of] Thornhill and Cavalade Roads‚ Green Point‚ the district of Cape Town‚ the accused did wrongfully and intentionally kill Peter Frederich Mihalik‚ an adult male‚ by shooting him in the head with a firearm‚” the charge sheet read.

The attempted murder charge related to Mihalik’s eight-year-old son‚ who was hit by one of two bullets fired into the advocate’s car outside Reddam House Atlantic Seaboard in Green Point. According to the charge sheet‚ the alleged hitmen inflicted “serious and potentially life-threatening injuries” to the child.

The men who appeared in court were arrested separately on Tuesday by members of the anti-gang unit‚ which is to be officially launched on Friday by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Over his 20-plus years as an advocate Mihalik represented numerous gangsters‚ and there were initially widespread suspicions that his murder could be linked to one of the cases he was involved in. The anti-gang unit launch will take place in Hanover Park‚ one of the Cape Flats communities most severely affected by gangsterism and the violence it causes.

According to the charge sheet‚ the men were in possession of a 9mm firearm. Prosecutor Helene Booysen said the state intended adding a further attempted murder charge "regarding a female child". She asked the court to postpone the matter for seven days for further investigation.

“The accused hail from KZN‚ the investigating officer has asked for seven days to ascertain that the accused have fixed addresses‚” said Booysen. “There is an indication that one of the accused is out on bail for a serious crime.”

Booysen asked that the men be kept at the Sea Point police station. She said incarcerating them in prison could endanger their lives.

Biyela appeared in a grey t-shirt‚ blue jeans and cream 'secret socks' without shoes. Khumalo was sassily dressed in black and shiny shoes. He looked down throughout the hearing.

Biyela opted for a legal aid lawyer. Speaking through an isiZulu interpreter‚ he said he had been unable to call his relatives in KwaZulu-Natal to appoint a private lawyer. Khumalo said he intended to hire his defence out of his own pocket.

The court postponed the matter to November 8.

Reneilwe Serero‚ the spokesperson for police minister Bheki Cele‚ said the new gang unit was made up of members from specialised units “with an objective to dislodge and terminally weaken the capacity of the gangs‚ and to disorganise and fundamentally disable the criminal economy linked to gangsterism‚ including drug and firearm supply lines or other identified commodities”.

Serero said the unit had been in operation since October 8 in Nyanga‚ Bonteheuwel and Bishop Lavis. “It will continue to be in full operation in the Peninsula area until communities in the greater Western Cape experience a return to normality.”

Ramaphosa’s participation in the launch “indicates his commitment and that of government at large to ensure that communities are able to live in safety while criminals are subjected to the full weight of the law”.