A new witness and one of the victims of Deputy President Paul Mashatile’s VIP protection team told the court that they were assaulted because they are coloured people.
This was stated by the unidentified witness during his cross-examination by the defence lawyer on Wednesday at the Randburg magistrate’s court.
Defence lawyer advocate Mswazi Makhubele questioned the witness’ testimony, stating that the witness informed the court that he asked one of the passengers in the blue VW Polo to take two bottles from the vehicle.
“Am I correct? Was the driver aware of the two bottles that were in the car?” asked Makhubele.
The witness responded: Yes. What I do know is that he was aware of the two empty crates that were in the boot.
Continued Makhubele: “I put it to you that it’s impossible for him not to have known of the bottles, because one bottle was next to you, another next to the driver, and all the other passengers who were in the vehicle had their bottles.”
However, the witness disagreed. “I don’t have any knowledge of additional bottles. I only know of the two,” he responded.
VW Polo posed danger to Mashatile’s convoy
Makhubele told the court that the manner in which the VW Polo driver was driving gave the eight accused an impression that the car posed a danger to Mashatile’s convoy.
“I don’t agree with that,” said the witness.
“Firstly, I did not see a convoy, and I don’t want to play the race card, but these things happen all the time when coloured people are involved. On that day, we were all coloured in the car; that is why we were assaulted.
“As members of the military, we also conduct searches, but we introduce ourselves and ask for permission to search before we do. On the day, the accused didn’t do that.”
The witness further informed the court that the two bottles that were thrown out did not have liquor.
“It is my instruction that all those bottles had liquor. It is my further instruction that when the accused pulled you out of the vehicle, you were intoxicated, all of you,” said Makhubele.
Responded the witness: “I disagree. The accused did not talk to us or ask us questions. If they were police, they were supposed to follow the protocol; they just came there and assaulted us.”
Minimum force was used
According to Makhubele, his clients conducted a search, and upon realising that there was nothing dangerous in the car except for the beer bottles, they decided to leave.
Additionally, he said the accused only pulled the VW Polo passengers out of the vehicle, put them next to the vehicle, and kept them there using minimum force.
Said the witness: “I don’t agree with that because when we arrived at the military base in Pretoria, we opened the boot and saw the military jacket that belonged to one of us on top of the crates; that’s why they left.
“In court, we have the privilege of viewing the footage, and we can all see that there was no minimum force that was used. One of the passengers was repeatedly kicked by the accused.”
The accused have pleaded not guilty to the 11 charges.
They are all out on R10 000 bail each after they handed themselves over to the police in Sandton in July 2023.
