The Bloemfontein High Court proceedings were slated to continue in May 2020, but the coronavirus pandemic and the imposed lockdowns to curb the spread of the virus brought - life including the trial - to a grinding halt. OFM News’ Olebogeng Motse reports interesting developments are expected to be revealed by the prosecution, as proceedings resume.

Less than two dozen witnesses have testified thus far in the trial with over 30 more still left. It is rumoured the state does not intend on placing every witness in the dock and may announce this on Monday. The outstanding testimonies include that of the confessed assassin, Xolisile “Botha” Mbebetho, who is currently serving 22 years in prison for shooting Siemens four times, killing him, as well as former legal adviser at the Free State Health Department, Justice Vinger.

Siemens, the then Managing Director of the day hospital, Citymed, was shot and killed on 10 May 2018 in the basement parking area of Preller Square Shopping Complex in Bloemfontein. Since that day, more than ten men have been arrested for allegedly playing various direct and indirect roles in orchestrating and carrying out the murder. Eight of those arrested are standing trial while the remaining others have turned state witnesses.

The aforementioned legal adviser - Vinger - sat on the license committee that reviewed Citymed’s 2015 application to the department to have their existing licence altered to allow for more beds at the facility. This application lies at the centre of the state’s case and the estranged relationship between accused number one, Stanley Bakili, and the deceased. 

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 is successful. These officials include former health MEC, Benny Malakoane; former Health Minister, Aaron Motsoaledi; head of the provincial health department, David Motau; and members of the hospital licence committee, Vinger and Charity “Pinky” Belot. 

Testimonies pertaining to the deceased’s financial records reveal the Citymed MD ultimately paid over about R6,5 million to Bakili for said bribes. The majority of the above-mentioned officials have refuted allegations that they received bribes in court. Motsoaledi went as far as calling Bakili a “creature” for falsely impersonating and implicating him in the scandal.

The cross-examination of the less than two dozen witnesses that have been called in the five-week murder 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 former waiter at Annie’s Country Kitchen, Ohuliseng Selemela, and former Grootvlei head, Tatolo Setlai. 

However, in the case of discrepancies in the disgraced policeman Molefi Koebu’s four statements in the Bloemfontein High Court, self-preservation has been identified as the single motivator. Koebu, along with a man named “Diba”; 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 the fact, regarding an incident that occurred 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.

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.

OFM News