The Lesotho national, Ramolefe Masiu (30), and his accomplice, Sprinkaan Maema, who is serving a 33-year jail sentence, is accused of killing Tshabalala in 2018 after they fatally shot at him whilst he was attending to a complaint in Phelindaba in Mangaung. 

Masiu, who was arrested in August 2019 after evading arrest in 2018 while in hospital attending to the gunshot wound he sustained during the shoot-out with Captain Tshabalala, claims to be remorseful and also admitted to be in the country illegally. The accused has been a regular feature in crimes around Park Road and Bloemspruit, which include murder, attempted murder and business robbery, committed with unlicensed firearms. 

Masiu’s bloodstain was extracted from the state vehicle after it was found abandoned near Dewetsdorp.

He and Maema made off with Tshabalala’s official phone, service pistol, and the state vehicle. His application was postponed to 17 October 2019 for a further bail application which the state is opposing. Masiu, who is on crutches after sustaining gunshot wounds from a shootout with the police while trying to evade arrest, took to the stand to try and convince Magistrate Ryan Ishmail to set him out on bail. Maema pleaded guilty to the murder charge before he was sentenced. 

OFM News previously reported that Tshabalala retaliated and wounded Masiu, who managed to flee the scene. Masiu has indicated to the court that he will not plead guilty to the charge. He has previous matters he committed between 2017 and 2019 before his arrest. He was once arrested with an unlicensed firearm which the state says usually results in life imprisonment.

OFM News