- A former Hawks senior officer claimed the 16 victims were not the target of the Mdlalose Tavern massacre.
- The man, who is applying for bail, revealed the victims were casualties in a battle between two rival Basotho burial societies.
- He claimed he assisted the police in arresting two of the alleged killers.
The 16 patrons cornered and gunned down at the Mdlalose Tavern in Soweto were not the intended targets, the Orlando Magistrate's Court has heard.
Damning allegations came to the fore when one of the five men accused of killing 16 people at the watering hole in Nomzamo Park, Orlando East, in July testified on Monday.
The men are facing 19 murder charges and one charge of robbery with aggravating circumstances.
The three murders were committed before the massacre.
During his bail application, the accused - a former Hawks branch commander - told the court the victims of the massacre were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The former police officer, whom the court ordered not to be identified, claimed the murders were caused by clashes between two Basotho rival burial societies, namely Terene ea Khosi Chakela and Terene ea Khosi Mokata.
The man testified the two groups assisted with the burials of miners from Lesotho, Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Botswana who died in South Africa.
He said he had joined the Terene ea Khosi Mokata burial society in January 2021, adding every member paid a monthly fee of R150, and the scheme had 900 000 active members.
Chakela was formed in 2019 by members who had left Mokata.
"Initially, when I joined [Mokata], I was an ordinary member. Upon hearing that I owned taxis, they started hiring [my vehicles for] funerals," he said.
"I later occupied the position of secretary of the society. The president is Sarel Sello, a Lesotho national. His vice-president is Elliot Radebe, a South African citizen."
According to him, a week before the murders, a Chakela member was allegedly killed by Mokata members.
The Chakela faction then sought revenge, he told the court.
They had heard their opponents were at the tavern.
The man continued that on 10 and 11 July, he was on his farm in Matatiele when he saw reports about the fatal tavern shooting on TV.
A few days later, he received a call from Radebe to come to Stilfontein, the North West, for a meeting, he claimed.
"I went. He informed me that the police were looking for some of our society members linked to the tavern shooting. A month later, I saw Sello being interviewed on TV about the Krugersdorp gang rapes allegedly perpetrated by zama zamas from Lesotho.
"Sometime later, I met Sello, sitting with a Daily Sun journalist at a restaurant at South Gate Mall. Cameras had been set up. I hadn't been told about that interview. Sello said I should sit next to him to be an interpreter between him and the journalist."
Meeting Bheki Cele
During the interview, Sello was ostensibly asked about the tavern shooting, which he denied knowing anything about.
"The journalist then asked him if he would sit down with Police Minister Bheki Cele to assist the police with their investigation. He immediately agreed."
The accused said the journalist then phoned Lirandzu Themba, Cele's spokesperson.
Themba informed the journalist that Cele and herself were in Bloemfontein and would only be available for a meeting at OR Tambo International Airport around 18:00, he testified.
"Sello asked me to join that meeting and act as an interpreter again. He thought my background as a police officer would assist when dealing with Cele. We then met with Cele at the InterContinental Hotel at the airport.
"Cele wanted to know what our meeting was about. The journalist replied that Sello was our president and that some of our members were allegedly involved in the tavern shooting.
"Sello said Terene ea Khosi Chakela members were responsible for the Krugersdorp gang rapes. He also told Cele that the police were looking for some members of Terene ea Khosi Mokata for the tavern shooting incident. Sello gave an undertaking to Cele that they would assist the police and hand over his members the police were looking for," he continued.
He later had another meeting with police officers, including Major-General Khumalo, Brigadier Louw and Colonel Masilela.
The applicant promised to work with the police in arresting his burial society members linked to the shooting.
Some of the wanted suspects were in Lesotho, and he agreed to bring them to South Africa to be arrested.
The officers said they were under pressure and threatened to detain him for 48 hours.
"Some of the people on that list were in Vereeniging and Klerksdorp. Most were in Lesotho. We went to those two towns, including a border [between South Africa and Lesotho].
"It didn't matter how hard we tried to convince them to come. Unfortunately, none of them was willing to hand themselves over. We then drove back to Johannesburg.
"On 18 September, I received a call from accused 1 wanting to see me about the tavern killings. He explained that the whole tavern shooting was a mistake. He said his father-in-law, who is accused 2, was with members of Terene ea Khosi Chakela [when the shooting occurred].
"Accused 1 said his father-in-law's friend was shot and killed in Kliptown a week before the tavern shooting. They believed the people responsible were from our burial society."
Fatal night
He claimed the night of the shooting, accused 1 and 2 were contacted by Terene ea Khosi Mokata, saying their members were at the tavern and "they were going to kill them to avenge the Kliptown murder of their member".
"When they got to the tavern, they [accused 1 and 2] didn't go inside to see if our members were there. They just started shooting while standing outside. Fortunately, our members had already left the tavern when they arrived. They even killed some of their members.
"Accused 1 wanted to join our society because his fellow members threatened them. He was looking for protection from us. I told him I could take him over to the police since I was a former officer. A few days later, I handed him over at the Norwood police station. We then went to Kimberley to fetch his father-in-law to be arrested."
The police then "suddenly" detained him for defeating the ends of justice, he charged.
The man claimed he was married to six wives and had fathered six children.
One of wives has since died.
He claimed he was innocent and would comply with the bail conditions should it be granted.
The hearing is expected to continue on 16 January.