FORMER ANC employee Velile Present (33) and three co-accused were all granted R4 000 bail in the Roodepoort Magistrates Court yesterday.
Magistrate John Baloyi said the state’s case could be described as weak and non-existent.
“The state couldn’t provide tangible evidence,” he said.
“A witness couldn’t identify the accused at the identity parade. Witnesses couldn’t place them at the scene.”
Cheers and applause could be heard from the gallery when Baloyi granted bail to Present, Itumeleng Manama (40), Bheki Biyela (38) and Zakhele Zondi (37).
At their previous appearance, the state conceded that fingerprints obtained from the stolen vehicles could not be linked to the accused.
Baloyi said the DNA found on the stolen Ford Ranger also couldn’t be linked to any of them.
He said there was no cash on them and there was no CCTV footage.
Sithembile Radebe, Zondi’s fiancee, was looking forward to spending the night with her husband-to-be after two months.
“I’m over the moon,” she said.
Sithembile claimed she was tortured on two occasions when police raided their house looking for guns and stolen money.
The matter was postponed to 30 October for further investigation.
