Twin brothers, who are accused of killing Jacob Khoaele, the regional manager of Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), over a tender, had their bail application denied by the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday afternoon.

The court found that the twins failed to provide exceptional circumstances warranting their release. 

Khoaele was shot dead on January 22, 2025, at La Lucia, while returning from his grandchild’s school meeting.

Vukani Mchunu, Vukile Mchunu, Sandile Sakhile Ngcobo, and Mthandeni Cele are charged with his murder. On Friday, the twins, Vukani and Vukile, applied for bail while Ngcobo and Cele decided to abandon it. 

In their application, the twins from Ngonyameni in Mlazi said they are 35 years old and co-own a company, Masoloma Trading.

Their lawyer, Musawenkosi Mkhize, said the twins are married, with Vukani having six children and Vukile having five. He said they also co-own a property worth R700,000 and cars, which include a Ford Ranger bakkie and a Mercedes-Benz.

They both stated that they are breadwinners who earn approximately R35,000 a month. He said their employees were not paid their salaries due to their incarceration, and that is why they should get bail.

Mkhize said it was an exceptional circumstance that his clients were running a company. 

Additionally, he said his clients were traditional healers who also ran a church. Mkhize said his clients should get bail because the State has a weak case against them.

“How are the two applicants linked? The incident occurred around January this year. The number of months has lapsed, arrests were only made in July,” he said.

Mkhize said, judging by what the investigating officer is saying in his affidavit, the State relied on one witness, Shange.

As he was arguing, Magistrate Siyanda Mlaba asked Mkhize to tell him about the exceptional circumstances of his clients. 

Senior State prosecutor, Calvin Govender, said it is the onus of the applicants to prove that they have exceptional circumstances, and they have failed to do so.

He reminded the court that this was a bail application and that all evidence would be led during the trial. 

Govender said the police wanted to get their ducks in a row before making an arrest. 

“That is why there was a delay,” he explained. 

He submitted that the State is of the view that there would be interference with the witnesses should the twins get bail.

He said the previous manager from Prasa had to resign because of the twins, who wanted to be paid for work that Prasa was not satisfied with. He said Khoale paid with his life because he also refused to pay the twins for work that Prasa was not satisfied with.

“Everyone at Prasa is afraid of the applicants due to the known fact that they threatened their colleague and killed the other,” Govender added. 

Delivering his ruling, Magistrate Mlaba reminded that the bail was under Schedule 6 of the Criminal Procedure Act.

He said the accused were facing serious allegations, and further emphasised that this was not a trial but a bail application. 

Mlaba criticised Mkhize, saying that he said a lot of things but failed to tell the court why his clients should get bail. 

“I remember asking him to hit the nail in the hand. I even asked him the definition of exceptional circumstances. But the attorney was not giving what I was expecting. I ended up just keeping quiet,” he said. 

He said the worst part was that there was no alternative address for the twins should they receive bail. He said the defence failed to tell the court those exceptional circumstances.

The matter has been postponed to September 29 for further investigation.

nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za

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