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- The bail application of five men accused of the murders of University of Fort Hare fleet manager Petrus Roets and the vice-chancellor's bodyguard Mboneli Vesele started on Thursday.
- One of the accused, Bongani Peter, revealed that his co-accused had asked around for Roets' address.
- Roets died in a hail of bullets near his home on 19 May 2022 after he had reportedly uncovered corruption within the university's fleet network.
One of the accused in the murders of two University of Fort Hare (UFH) employees, Petrus Roets and Mboneli Vesele, had called his co-accused to ask for Roets’ physical address before he was gunned down.
Bongani Peter, 51, told the Dimbaza Magistrate's Court in the Eastern Cape that Wanini Khuza, 69, had called him seeking Roets' address.
Peter, a suspended chief transport officer at the university, was testifying during his formal bail application.
Khuza had retired but returned to work at the university.
UFH vice-chancellor Sakhele Buhlungu had previously told journalists that Khuza was on sick leave the day Roets was killed.
Roets, the university's fleet manager, died in a hail of bullets on 19 May 2022, near his home in Gonubie while on his way home from the Alice campus.
At the time, Roets' murder was thought to be linked to a clampdown on corruption within the university's fleet network.
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Peter told the court: "Khuza called me and asked if I could give him Roets’ address and I replied that I had no clue."
Peter testified that Khuza had also called him to break the news of Roets’ murder.
In the dock with Peter and Khuza is a former student at the university, Sicelo Mbulawa, 28, who ran a car repair workshop that did business with the UFH's fleet department; Mthobisi Khanyile, 29; and 30-year-old Mthobisi Dlamini Zondo. Khanyile and Dlamini Zondo were arrested in KwaZulu-Natal by the police’s special task team investigating the hits on UFH employees.
Peter faces a string of charges, including the murders of Roets and Vesele, the attempted murders of Buhlungu and his office manager, Nozuko Mabombo, as well as fraud and corruption.
READ | Shock as another University of Fort Hare bodyguard killed
Mbulawa and Khuza have been charged with the murder of Roets, fraud and corruption. Khanyile and Dlamini Zondo have been charged with the murders of Roets and Vesele, the attempted murders of Buhlungu, Mabombo, and Professor Renuka Vithal, as well as the possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Vesele, who was Buhlungu's bodyguard, was killed on 6 January when gunmen opened fire on the vice-chancellor's vehicle at his home in Alice.
Buhlungu, who was not in the vehicle, was taken to a safe house.
The bail application continues.
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