The alleged hitmen of Glebelands Hostel, known as the Glebelands Eight, were at one stage an unstoppable force of terror. As early as last week, they still had the ability to draw supportive crowds at the massive, filthy complex in Umlazi, when they were part of an in-loco inspection.

But, now, their greatest hindrance to a speedy trial will not be a painfully slow state bureaucracy. The outbreak of Covid-19 is taking care of that.

On Monday, it took a ballsy interpreter to raise the matter of coronavirus preparedness in court, and, in so doing, he revealed how poorly prepared the Pietermaritzburg High Court is to tackle the virus.

Interpreter GG Khoza, known as “GG” by all, asked Judge Nkosinathi Chili if he could make a statement, just as proceedings resumed after lunch. Chili, to his credit, allowed it.

“My Lord, before we proceed, I have an issue I would like to raise with the court. It has been in the news and you all know about coronavirus, but it seems that our department has not given us any information.

“All the courts have closed down, people have been sent home (Daily Maverick understands that the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court had closed for the day)…. As we are working now, we don’t know [anything]. Nobody has called a meeting, and it is placing our lives and the lives of our loved ones in danger by working. No one cares, no one has said anything, we are kept in the dark.”

Khoza has a valid point. If ever there was a monument to putridity, it is the Pietermaritzburg High Court. It is perhaps second only to the petri dish that is the Durban High Court.

Taking Khoza’s observations into account, and those of other court officials, there is little evidence that the facility executed any of the directives ordered by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng last Tuesday.

Mogoeng had instructed that courts would be sterilised twice daily and that there would be sanitisers at work stations and in corridors. 

Getting through the court doors on Monday morning entailed standing in a long queue where social distancing apparently has never been heard of.

Those entering were then made to sign a register – using the same pen – and given a smear of disinfectant that Khoza alleged was purchased by the court manager because none had been sent from head office.

The composition of the sanitiser is unknown.

Only at the first tea break, around 11am, did the security guard have gloves on to protect himself. Later, temperatures were taken with a handheld thermometer, the first time since the directive was given.

Despite the minimal measures in place, the filth of the building, the muck on the revolving door leading into the court and the greasy, sticky tables and surfaces inside the court precinct, will take more than a cursory clean to be properly sanitised.

The court bathrooms have always been, and remained on Monday, an ode to filth. The stench from sanitary bins in the women’s ablutions was overwhelming. The toilet rolls, in the cubicles that actually had rolls, were damp. Everything was wet, sticky and nasty.

The men’s bathrooms, Daily Maverick was told, were equally filthy.

The desks in B court, where the trial is being held, were caked with a sticky grime.

Chili asked the interpreter what he suggested should happen, given his observations, to which Khoza replied: “I speak for myself, but maybe others would agree that we should stop working until we are told it is safe for us to come back.”

Chili asked senior state prosecutor, Advocate Dorian Paver, for his thoughts.

“My Lord, I must respectfully agree with what Mr Khoza has said. It appears that the virus is spreading; the number of cases has increased. We are in a very confined environment,” said Paver.

He added that the accused stood shoulder to shoulder in the dock and were transported to court in crammed vehicles with poor ventilation. “They are particularly at risk,” he said.

However, despite this, the wheels of justice lumbered on on Monday.

Earlier in the day, a short, well-built state witness took to the dock for day one of cross-examination.

The 41-year-old man and previous long time Glebelands resident had lived in the same block as the alleged cabal leader, former Durban Central detective Bhekukwazi Mdweshu – accused one.

Advocate Martin Krog, representing Mdweshu and Mdweshu’s cousin, accused five Ncomekile Ntshangase, took the likeliest of approaches by climbing into the witness’s credibility.

Like at least one of the witnesses before him, the man had turned his body so that he was facing Judge Chili and his two assessors, his eyes unable to make contact with the accused without a conscious pivot.

By the man’s own admission, via his evidence in chief given last week, he was a police informer. He told the court then: “I had been given instructions by police, I was working with police, that I should be with [the accused] at all times to see what they were doing.”

Krog tried to flesh this out under cross-examination on Monday morning:

“It appears to me that at some stage you were a police informant,” he casually stated.

Stiffening a little, and looking momentarily ashamed and then defiant, the witness eventually answered yes.

He could not, however, say exactly when he became an informant, much to the annoyance of Krog.

The advocate eventually, with Judge Chili’s assistance, established that the witness was approached by a policeman three days before the murder of Mthembu-gang leader William Mthembu and Mthembu’s bodyguard, Thokozani Machi, to “keep tabs” on the accused.

“The policeman who called said they know I was always together with Mdweshu [and company] and said I shouldn’t part with them.”

The police officer, according to the witness, introduced himself as being from Umlazi police station.

As Daily Maverick readers will know, the station was allegedly peppered with dirty police, some of whom would sell weapons to the cabal. Many would say very little has changed.

Nevertheless, the witness said he only physically met the police officer after the murders of Mthembu and Machi. At this stage he also met other officers “from crime intelligence” who were looking for information about the killings at Glebelands.

He could remember none of their names, he told the court, but would be able to recognise their faces.

Mthembu and Machi were gunned down at a Montclair Shoprite complex in September 2015. They were block R residents, and, according to the state, would often battle for the spoils of money extorted from some of the hostel’s estimated 22,000 residents. 

Mdweshu, Mbuthuma, Mcobothi and Mbhele have been charged with the murders of the duo.

(Mbhele was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment in 2018 for the attempted murder of the latest witness. He pleaded guilty to shooting the man in the face at Glebelands in September 2016.)

The witness also admitted to the court that he was in one of the vehicles that carried the accused to the Shoprite complex to kill Mthembu and Machi.

“I wanted to see if they were really killing people,” the witness told Krog.

“Your curiosity was satisfied, not so?” asked Krog.

“Yes”.

When asked during the course of proceedings why he did not go to the police to share what he knew about any of the killings at Glebelands, the witness responded: “People responsible for the killings would kill you if you talk to the police.”

Krog has a long road ahead with the witness, who last week testified about R160,000 being collected through extorting residents to pay the killers of Mthembu and Machi, but it is doubtful he will be able to continue his cross-examination, and attempts to discredit the witness, this week.

Krog, after consulting with his clients about interpreter GG’s statements, said: “My Lord, their attitude is that they want the matter to go ahead, [but if there are any resolutions taken, we have no objection].”

Legal Aids South Africa attorney Xolani Sindane, representing Mbuthuma, Mcobothi, Mkhize, Mondli Mthethwa and Mbhele, said Mthethwa and Mbhele also felt postponing was in order, while the remainder of his clients wanted the matter to proceed. Sindane said he shared Khoza’s sentiments “because of the situation in the country”.

Acting on behalf of accused four, Eugene Wonderboy Hlophe, Legal Aids South Africa advocate Dianne Franklin said: “I have been informed that the state president will be making an announcement tonight, and perhaps we will get more clarity from that.”

Chili said he would convey the concerns to acting judge president Isaac Madondo. “This matter is not over until tomorrow,” he said.

And then, in what is becoming a common occurrence in the provincial capital – currently under administration – the lights went out due to an unscheduled power cut.

Court was adjourned to Tuesday morning. The case has since been postponed. DM