The application that Magistrate Rendani Netshiunda and state prosecutor Mashudu Nekhumbe from the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court recuse themselves from the SAMWU murder trial was withdrawn by the accused's legal representative, Advocate Tshifhiwa Matodzi, on Monday, 6 June.
On 30 May, Matodzi filed papers applying for Netshiunda and Nekhumbe to recuse themselves from the case, so that his clients, the Radzuma brothers, "could have a fair trial". Judge Netshiunda set the date for judgement on this matter to 6 June, but on the day that the matter would have been heard, Matodzi told the court that he did not want to apply for the motion anymore as both Netshiunda and Nekhumbe are also prosecuting another case that involves the Radzuma brothers.
Percy Radzuma, Simon Radzuma, Ndivhuwo Radzuma and Thabo Sibanze stand accused of the murder of the two SAMWU officials, Timpson Musetsho (50) and Ronald Mani (50), from the Vhembe District Municipality in 2019.
Magistrate Netshiunda postponed the case to 27 July, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) to finally come to a decision on the matter.
Addressing the crowd outside the court, Ms Elelwani Mani, who represents the families of the two slain officials, said they welcomed the postponement of the case as this meant that the State felt they still needed to investigate certain things before the matter went to trial.
Advocate Matodzi warned the court that, should that date come and the DPP had still not come up with the ballistic evidence on the matter, they would argue for the case to be struck off the roll as it has been delayed on too many occasions.