A Durban magistrate has denied bail for the alleged orchestrator behind the attempted hit on Sars advocate Coreth Naude.
Magistrate Quim de Freitas said Kholwani Prayman Ntanjana, against whom more than eight charges, including murder and hijacking, had been withdrawn in the past, had a propensity to commit violent crime.
He said he was not an upstanding member of society and did not satisfy the court that he should be released on bail.
“If you play with mud you are going to get dirty,” said De Freitas.
Ntanjana has been identified as an alleged orchestrator of the attack on Naude. He is represented by advocate Simphiwe Mlotshwa.
Two men, Siyanda Mbulwana and Mncedisi Runeyi have been indicted in the Durban high court in the attempted murder case and have previously been denied bail.
Naude was working for Sars on a case against controversial businesswoman and Royal AM FC owner Shauwn Mkhize and her son Andile when she was shot and seriously wounded in an apparent assassination attempt in July.
De Freitas was concerned when he learned about five charges for violent crimes which had been withdrawn against Ntanjana.
“What got my attention, and something which is strange, is that I know there are a lot of things going on in this country, but we can’t add to the erosion of public confidence, otherwise we are going to take things into our own hands,” said De Freitas.
In his affidavit, Ntanjana told the court he owns an unbonded property at the sought-after Tahari coastal estate in Ballito valued at R1.5m and has R1m life cover.
De Freitas also found there was no clarity on Ntanjana’s streams of income or information on his business associates.
He described Ntanjana as being “wishy-washy” about where he lived.
Ntanjana, who has a customary wife and multiple children, was also vague about where they lived.
“Who does not know where his children are residing,” said De Freitas.
He said in his first affidavit Ntanjana had said he also owned vacant land and earned R12,000 per month.
“What occupation? We do not know. He also said he generates more than R500,000 in business and that his incarceration will interfere with his business. He also said he has life cover to the value of more than R1m. His affidavit was of poor quality,” said De Freitas.
He said despite asking Ntanjana to clarify information from his initial affidavit, it was not forthcoming.
The magistrate said there was also no clarity on the taxi business Ntanjana claimed to own in the Western Cape and Gauteng.
The matter has been adjourned to January 16 for further investigations. Ntanjana’s co-accused are expected to return to the high court on January 22.
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