Sixty-three July 2021 riot 'instigators' before courts, murder trials proceeding, says KZN NPA

Sixty-three July 2021 unrest "instigators" are before the courts, KwaZulu-Natal National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) head Elaine Zungu told the media on Friday.

They face charges of incitement and/or conspiracy to commit public violence. Sixty-one were allegedly active on three WhatsApp groups during the riots.

Zungu said the cases were being dealt with by the NPA's organised crime component, with prosecutors working closely with members of the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI).

“There continues to be a lot of overtime dedicated to these matters as some are voluminous, with lots of documents to be perused,” she said.

Of the matters initially received by the organised crime unit, one accused was acquitted, one is still under investigation and in four cases decisions were made not to prosecute because of insufficient evidence.

Zungu said unrest-related murder cases were being dealt with by the Durban office's general prosecutions section.

“This was in response to the SAPS task team set up by the minister of police. Many of these case dockets came from the Phoenix area. The office initially received eight dockets. In two, no prosecution was instituted and one was withdrawn as the witness could not be traced,” she said.

Five cases are in court, three in the high court:

• State vs Fenton, in which the accused has been charged with murder, has been set down for trial on November 21.
• The trial of Phoenix brothers Dylan and Ned Govender, charged with murder and three counts of attempted murder, is due to begin on February 20 next year.
• The trial of Ravine Naidoo, charged with murder, attempted murder and malicious damage to property, is set for a pre-trial conference on November 22.
• State v Yubandra Govender and seven others, in which the accused are charged with murder, public violence, attempted murder and malicious damage to property, is expected to begin on March 24 next year.
• Another, State v Reggie Blueboy Moodley and seven others, will be back in court next month for pre-trial proceedings.

Zungu said in July and August the organised crime component received a further 60 dockets for consideration. “We have declined to prosecute in 50 of these and the dockets have been referred for inquest. Some matters still do not have postmortem reports, video footage is outstanding and a request for additional witness statements has been submitted.”

With regards to looting cases, she said they were being managed in the district and regional courts, with prosecutors working closely with the Asset Forfeiture Unit (AFU) in some matters.

Noteworthy among the finalised cases is that of Mbuso Maloi, the so-called “Woolworths looter”, who was found guilty of theft and public violence.

The AFU obtained a preservation order in respect of the R500,000 Mercedes-Benz into which he was seen placing stolen items on the basis that it was an “instrument for the commission of an offence”. The unopposed forfeiture application is back in court next month, she said.

The value of preservation orders regarding the looting cases now stands at nearly R3m.

Njabulo Ncube is serving an effective eight years in jail. He was part of a group that broke into a store in Umbilo and stole groceries. 

Lungelo Nthenga is behind bars for an effective five years after pleading guilty to theft relating to incidents that took place in the Mobeni industrial area.

“These are a few of the looting cases that have been finalised. More are on the court rolls,” Zungu said. “The AFU has been working closely with our prosecutors to try to forfeit vehicles which were used to transport stolen property.”

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