Court proceedings are set to resume on 16 November 2020, with legal eagle Joseph Kgoelenya who is representing accused number three, Kagiso Chabane, in the matter, confirming to media in Senekal, that the trial will run into mid-December in the Bloemfontein High Court. Kgoenlenya further referred to the possibility the state won’t get through its extensive list of over 50 witnesses come mid-December. Almost two dozen witnesses have testified thus far, since the trial began on 28 October 2019. The witnesses included high profile government officials: Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, the Free State Health Department head David Motau, and former provincial Health MEC Benny Malakoane. They each denied having any involvement or knowledge of bribes being paid by accused number one, Stanley Bakili, on behalf of the deceased for the amendment of CityMed’s hospital licenses to allow for more beds.

Siemens - the then Managing Director of the Day Hospital, CityMed - was shot four times, assassination style, in the basement parking lot of the Preller Square Shopping Complex in May 2018. Ten men have been arrested over the course of a year and a half, for playing various direct and indirect roles in orchestrating and carrying out the murder. Eight of those arrested are now standing trial while the others have turned key state witnesses.

City Med’s application to have its hospital license amended to allow for more beds, and the fractured relationship between alleged mastermind Bakili and Siemens, lie at the centre of the state’s case. The state’s version is that shortly after the day hospital submitted its application, Bakili contacted Siemens, informing him bribes would need to be paid to several officials to ensure the application was successful. These officials allegedly include the above-mentioned officials and members of the department’s hospital licence committee, health department legal advisor Justice Vinger and Charity “Pinky” Belot.

The relationship between Bakili and Siemens deteriorated, not too long thereafter and is believed to have led to the murder.

When the trial resumes, key witnesses and state aces - including self-confessed assassin Xolisile “Botha” Mbebetho, who is currently serving 22-years in a Kimberley-based prison for shooting Siemens and Vinger - are expected to deliver explosive testimonies that implicate the accused directly.

The testimonies and cross-examinations of the less than two dozen witnesses that have already been called in the trial have mostly been dominated by inconsistencies between said witnesses’ written statements and their oral testimonies. For the most part, these discrepancies have been pinned on memory lapses and pressure from investigators, as was the case in the testimony of a former waiter at Annie’s Country Kitchen, Ohuliseng Selemela, and former Grootvlei head, Tatolo Setlai.

However, in the case of discrepancies in disgraced policeman Molefi Koebu’s four statements in the Bloemfontein High Court, self-preservation has been pinned as the single motivator. Koebu, along with a man named “Diba”, a disbarred advocate Karabo Tau, and Information Technology (IT) specialist Sizwe Mpati, each faced charges related to kidnapping, assault, possession of a semi-automatic pistol and accessory to murder after a separate incident in August 2018 in Botshabelo. The semi-automatic pistol that was used to kill Siemens in the basement parking area of Preller Square Shopping Complex on 10 May 2018, was recovered by police in Mpati’s vehicle in this separate crime, three months after the murder.

However, it’s Mbebetho and Vinger’s testimonies that are expected to be the final nail in the coffin for the accused. Bakili is joined by Molebatsi Mogoera, Kagiso Chabane, Mojalefa “Jali” Molusi, Moeketsi Lesia, Clive Tshivenga, Tau, and Mpati as the accused in the trial. The men are between the ages of 29 and 56, and include three police officers, a disbarred advocate, an accused in separate double murder cases, and a military man, alleged to have played varying roles in orchestrating Siemens’ murder.

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