More than two months after the festive season arrest of 12 members of the South African National Defence Force following the disappearance of 19 R4 rifles from the Lyttelton TEK Base in Centurion, the weapons are still missing — and so, it appears, is the case. 

There was talk of two more arrests in relation to the disappearance, and there were also rumours that some of the rifles had been recovered, but if SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini were aware of this, he didn’t volunteer the information. He also didn’t respond to an SMS requesting information on Tuesday night, after the conclusion of the afternoon’s court proceedings.

In contrast, the SANDF was quick to put out a press release shortly after Christmas 2019 in which it announced the theft, the arrests, and in which Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula called the suspects “unpatriotic” and “self-serving thugs”. 

After spending Christmas and New Year in custody before being released on remand, all charges against five of the 12 men Mapisa-Nqakula referred to were dropped on Tuesday during their appearance in the military court behind the Thaba Tshwane town hall.

Work-related charges of unbecoming conduct and dereliction of duty were added to the charges of theft, breaking and entering and the negligent loss of firearms for five of the seven who are still charged, which was postponed until June 15 for further investigation.

Former military judge Brian Plaatjies, who acted for nine of the accused on Tuesday, said he reckoned there was no real case against his clients and he accused the SANDF of taking a “shotgun approach” — adding as many charges as possible in order to accuse them of something.

Three of the men who had their charges dropped were looking at pursuing a civil case of unlawful arrest against the SANDF, Plaatjies said. During the last court appearance by the men just after the New Year, military judge Lieutenant-Colonel Ramafi Kodisang was scathing about the Hawks delaying for 10 days a search of the house of one of the suspects.

“You are dealing with rifles,” he said. “This is a country ravaged by criminal activity. There must be a serious effort to find those rifles.” DM