Overview
- The magistrate reserved judgment Friday and set a Tuesday return date, keeping the Ekurhuleni city manager and the suspended metro police deputy chief in jail over the Freedom Day weekend.
- Prosecutors say the case centers on a 2019 speeding matter where an impostor allegedly appeared in court for Kagiso Lerutla, with payments totaling R400,000 said to have been split between Julius Mkhwanazi and his driver.
- The court heard separate claims from an investigating officer that after a head-on crash on May 14, 2021, Lerutla paid a tow-truck driver R10,000 to remove the deceased’s body before police and medics arrived.
- Investigators told the court a culpable homicide docket from the 2021 crash was withdrawn in August 2023 and later went missing, and they said they are reconstructing the file to revive the inquiry.
- The defense says both men are innocent, will not contact witnesses, and will stand trial, with filings that include offers to hand over travel documents and claims the arrests are politically driven.