Pretoria High Court upholds denial of bail for Sergeant Fannie Nkosi

The Pretoria High Court has dismissed Sergeant Fannie Nkosi’s appeal against the denial of bail, upholding the Pretoria North Magistrate’s decision that he should remain in custody pending criminal proceedings.

High Court confirms magistrate’s ruling

The court ruled that the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court was correct to refuse Nkosi bail. Nkosi had returned to the High Court on Wednesday to appeal the magistrate’s decision.

On 22 April, Magistrate Thandi Theledi found that Nkosi had failed to show he would not pose a danger to others, evade prosecution or interfere with the investigation and witnesses.

Arrest and charges

Nkosi was arrested by the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry task team on Thursday, 2 April, following his testimony before the commission and a raid at his home in Pretoria.

He faces charges including theft, defeating the ends of justice and possession of unlicensed ammunition, explosives and police dockets.

Arguments in the High Court

On 26 May, Advocate Hendrik Potgieter, for Nkosi, argued that the magistrate was wrong in her findings in respect of the facts and the law and that the High Court was in a position to interfere with those findings.

The state argued that Nkosi might attempt to interfere with evidence, police officials, administrative systems, case documents or exhibits.

“Why does he have to keep such a large amount of ammunition relating to the R5 rifle in his house? It doesn’t end there; only five [out of 62] of the ammunition found there were found to be police-issued. It means the rest were not police-issued,”

the judge commented during argument. Potgieter said:

“With the number of firearms that the appellant has registered to his name, 400 rounds of ammunition is not a large quantity. He’s a licensed gun owner. The firearms and ammunition were seized by the police; they’re no longer in his possession. So, the reason that he would place society in danger does not exist any more because they were taken by the police.”

Additional charges and next court date

While in custody earlier this month, the Madlanga Commission’s Recommendations Investigative Task Team brought additional charges of defeating and obstructing the course of justice against Nkosi.

The state alleges that on 10 November 2022 a suspect was arrested for possession of dagga, unlicensed firearms and explosives, and that Nkosi allegedly fetched the original case docket under the pretence that he had been sent by the head office. The state further alleges that Nkosi later returned to Thohoyandou, identified himself as a colonel from head office and removed the confiscated dagga from police custody, thereafter booking the exhibit at head office; it was later discovered that one of the exhibit bags containing the dagga had allegedly been tampered with.

The state now seeks to consolidate the two cases and will return to court on 22 July for this matter.

Defence stance

Nkosi has denied all charges against him, maintaining that the state has a “weak” case.