Pretoria – Emotions ran high at the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court during an appearance of the man accused of killing ANC MPL Mapiti Matsena as some relatives wanted him to reveal why he committed the crime.
Those in attendance, who included Matsena's relatives, friends and ANC comrades, broke down when the accused Monoko Thoka, 29, was asked to take the stand.
Overwhelmed with emotions some relatives from the public gallery enquired from the accused: "How can you do that? Are you satisfied?".
Reacting to the questions, he turned his head towards them and showed a gesture of forgiveness with his hands.
There was drama when the accused constantly raised his hand, indicating he wanted to speak, but his lawyer from the Legal Aid Board would not allow him to do so.
For a few minutes the court went into an adjournment to allow the accused to interact with his lawyer.
However, when the court resumed he continued to interject proceedings by raising his hand. On all occasions he was attended to by his lawyer.
The State was told the investigation into the murder case was not complete as the investigating officer was still waiting for the postmortem results.
The court, however, noted the officers had done their best by making sure the DNA tests were done.
The case was postponed to October 13 pending further investigation
During his previous appearance the accused waived his legal right for a bail application, opting to remain in custody.
Abel Matsena, the deceased’s brother, told journalists outside court that: “The proceeding was not fair based on the fact that he (the accused) wanted to confess something whereas his legal team opposed him. We wanted to hear from the horse's mouth."
Matsena said the family also noted a gesture of forgiveness from the accused, but he could not say whether he was forgiven or not.
Although he was reluctant to disclose the motive of the killing, he said the police's investigation had revealed the accused bore a pent-up anger towards Matsena for at least six months.
"Some people suspect that it (the killing) has a political motive, but let's give the investigative team a chance to investigate this," he said.
The accused was charged with murder after Matsena died of stab wounds at his Doornpoort home on July 15.
He was arrested in Limpopo a day after the crime.
Pretoria News