The Empangeni magistrate’s court had to adjourn to allow an emotional Ntokozo Dube, one of nine people accused of stealing 976 tonnes of zircon and chloride last month, to compose himself during his bail application last week. The prosecution has argued he might intimidate witnesses if given bail.
Dube and his co-accused — Sizwe Mthiyane, Bongani Sithole Mogore, Nkululeko Mbatha, Xolani Jubase, Mduduzi Sokhela, Thando Zondi, Mkhuseleni Shongwe and Lungisani Mthiyane — were arrested in Kwambonambi, about 25km north of Richards Bay, on charges of theft and aggravated robbery. Mogore faces a further charge of contravening the Immigration Act.
The nine are alleged to have made off with minerals worth R2m belonging to Richards Bay Minerals (RBM) on August 20. Many of the accused work for the company.
We were searched, had our phones taken away and locked inside a vehicle ... We then heard the security guard saying the sand that was loaded in the truck had been taken from RBM premises.
— Ntokozo Dube
Dube testified that he was arrested at a roadblock in Kwambonambi but denied being party to any criminal activity his colleagues may have been involved in.
He said his vehicle had been behind a procession of trucks and cars being driven by the other accused that were stopped at the roadblock, but had not been part of the convoy.
At the roadblock he saw his colleague and co-accused Sizwe Mthiyane chatting to Moroge, who was driving a tipper truck. Dube said he got out of his car and approached them, but before he could join the conversation a group of armed security guards apprehended all three of them.
“We were searched, had our phones taken away and locked inside a vehicle that was built like a normal police van but had no police markings. We followed a security vehicle [and were] taken to a bush. We then heard the security guard saying the sand that was loaded in the truck had been taken from RBM premises,” he testified.
Dube said he had tried to dissociate himself from the convoy and his colleagues’ alleged crimes. “I explained that I was not part of that convoy, when I arrived there the truck had already stopped, but they said they were not interested in that and took us to [the] police station.”
Prosecutor Mandla Mtukusha told the court the tipper truck was one of a number of vehicles police recovered from the scene. The others included two horse-and-trailers, a Toyota Dakar bakkie and a tractor/loader/backhoe (TLB) machine.
Dube broke down while describing his shock at being arrested. He said he had been “deprived of his right” to explain that he had not been part of a convoy.
Attorney Vusi Ndlovu, representing Dube and three other accused, said Dube was implicated because he had been at the scene, but he had not been told why he was being arrested.
The prosecutor, opposing bail, said most of the state witnesses in the case lived in Kwambonambi, as did Dube.
“You can have access to RBM whenever you want, like intimidating the witnesses,” Mtukusha said. He said the accused could resort to extreme measures because they faced jail terms of 15 years or more if convicted.
The hearing was adjourned to September 27.
A senior RBM official told TimesLIVE Premium the arrests were made after one of the company’s security contractors spotted suspicious behaviour close to a minerals stockpile three weeks ago.
“They then alerted the rest of our security component, and they responded with drones and then reaction units. There were drones in the air right above the suspects as they were loading our projects. The drones filmed the entire operation in infrared,” the source said.
The suspects were then followed while a roadblock was set up ahead.
“They were pulled over in the roadblock and were arrested,” the RBM source said. “Our people and the police confiscated three vehicles — two large trucks and a front-end loader.”
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