Eleven former military vets kept in prison as bail bid postponed to Friday

Eleven former military veterans arrested for their roles in the alleged ministerial “hostage” situation last week will remain behind bars until at least Friday, when they will apply for bail in the Pretoria magistrate’s court sitting in the Kgosi Mampuru prison.              

Fifty-six people were arrested, but charges against three were dropped after they were identified as employees at the Saint George Hotel, where the drama unfolded.

On Tuesday, 42 of the accused were released on bail of R500 each.

However, the 11 might find it harder to be released on higher bail may be set.

“In respect of these 11 accused persons, with accused [number] 53 in absentia, the accused persons have relevant previous convictions, including murder [and] robbery. . The state is averring a schedule 5 bail application against these gentlemen,” said Sanet Jacobson for the state.

Accused number 53 is in hospital.

All accused are facing 27 charges: one count of conspiracy to kidnap and 26 counts of kidnapping.

The state has not ruled out the possibility of adding a charge of contravening the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act.

Defence minister Thandi Modise, her deputy Thabang Makwetla and minister in the presidency Mondli Gungubele were among those allegedly prevented from leaving a meeting at the Tshwane hotel on Thursday night.

The police intervened after the veterans barricaded doors with chairs and refused to let the three to leave.

The Sunday Times reported that the group’s demands included the payment of R4.2m each to 9,000 veterans at a total cost of R37.8bn.

Earlier on Tuesday, when bail proceedings began, the accused men and women were divided into three groups: those with verified addresses, those with unverified addresses and no pending cases, and those with relevant previous convictions and pending matters.

Legal representative Dali Mpofu argued that the bail amounts suggested by the state — of R2,000 and R3,000 — were too high as most of the accused were unemployed.

The state told the court they are relying on common purpose in the matter.

“Some went to the doors, some sang incitement songs. In terms of association, in terms of participation, I can’t inform the court at this stage that accused [number] 1 was the one who shouted at the minister,” said Jacobson.

“The videos need to be analysed for that, and for that the state needs time. So at this stage we cannot say ‘accused [number] 1 did this, accused this did that’. We are relying on common purpose and say everyone was actively involved.”

The state said it had verified the addresses of the first 13 accused but could not verify the other addresses due to time and the other accused being from outside Gauteng.

“The task team didn’t sleep last night. They went physically to the addresses of the 13 people whose addresses could be confirmed,” said Jacobson.  

Mpofu raised an issue of continuous assault on the accused. He said their cellphones were confiscated without permission and they were forced to hand over their pin numbers for investigation.

The case has been postponed to Friday for the bail application of the remaining 11 accused, while the case for the 42 who were granted bail was postponed to February 1.

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