Durban — EThekwini Municipality protection officer Zamani Dumsani Cele, who was found with suspected stolen property and police gear, along with two others was denied bail in the Pinetown Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
Cele was employed by the city for more than 10 years. He and his co-accused, Durban security guards Mnqobi Nxumalo and Stanley Cabanga Zungu, from Mvula Security, will return to court on May 9.
Their arrests stem from a shooting incident in Dassenhoek near Mariannhill. On the day, it is alleged that five men in police jackets who were travelling in a white Hilux double-cab bakkie with no registration plates had gone into a house and fired a single shot.
A police patrol intercepted the bakkie. Police recovered three car registration plates, two pairs of handcuffs, three SAPS reflective vests, a bulletproof vest bag, a SAPS tracksuit jacket with an emblem on it, three SAPS caps, two pistol holsters, and a SAPS raincoat with an emblem on it.
The fact that they were unable to explain who or how they came to have the gear with them in the vehicle in which they were travelling when they were stopped by the police, was a factor that Magistrate Wendalynn Robinson considered when delivering her ruling.
Robinson said incidents of this nature were on the increase, and that she had considered the wrong that this could inflict on society.
“When a member of the public is approached by someone in a police uniform it creates an impression in the mind of the ordinary citizen. The public's interest needs to be considered,” she said.
Robinson said that the court was mindful that the onus was on the State to prove that it was not in the interests of justice to release the men on bail.
It emerged in their bail application that the municipality had placed Cele on a three-month suspension, and he was to return all municipal property.
The men also face a charge of murder that falls under a separate case number from the one they were denied bail in. Both matters were adjourned to May 9.
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