Update: Molosi murderers lose appeal

Update

KNYSNA NEWS - Former Knysna independent councillor Velile Waxa and municipal official Mawande Makhala, who were sentenced to life behind bars for the murder of ANC councillor Victor Molosi in 2019, have lost their court appeal against incriminating statements that cemented their convictions.

Waxa, Makhala and co-accused Vela Dumile were sentenced to life imprisonment after being convicted for, among others, conspiracy to commit murder.

The matter related to the murder of Molosi, who was a Ward 4 councillor at the time of his death. Molosi was gunned down just a few metres from his house in 2018 after leaving Concordia High School where he was attending a school governing body meeting.

Since the conviction and subsequent sentencing, Waxa and Makhala approached the Supreme Court of Appeal to challenge the admission of statements during their murder trial which incriminated them both.

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The conviction relied heavily on these statements and played a key role in their conviction.
The central question in this appeal was whether the trial court was correct to admit the statements into evidence as the convictions could not stand without it.

The court however found today, 18 February, that the trial judge correctly found that there was sufficient evidence to corroborate the statements and that, upon consideration of all the evidence, the State had discharged its burden of proof.

The court therefore dismissed the duo’s appeal.

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