BEING a teacher clearly didn’t suit his lifestyle, and he allegedly went in search of greater excitement.
Now, the man they call “Bara” is facing charges that will make even hardened criminals shake their heads.
He may have once been a teacher, but today he is a suspected mass murderer!
The alleged teacher-turned-gangster has been arrested and charged with 31 criminal acts including 19 counts of murder, attempted murder, cash-in-transit heists and possession of drugs.
Yanga “Bara” Nyalara (30) is suspected of being the kingpin behind the Khayelitsha mass murders.
Cops had been looking for Bara for months and even put a bounty of R100 000 on his head. He was arrested on Friday in Bothasig, Cape Town.
Police Minister Bheki Cele, who attended Bara’s first court appearance, said the gangster was caught the way he had been living.
“I think he was having a nice time. He was found sleeping between two young beautiful women with a lot of drugs around,” claimed Cele.
He said that he was told Bara, originally from Cofimvaba, was a qualified teacher. Commenting outside the court, Cele said: “He has been charged with 31 cases. I’m told that six cases will be of murder that left 19 bodies around Khayelitsha and other places.”
He said Bara jumped bail in the Eastern Cape involving cash-in-transit cases.
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National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila said Bara has abandoned bail, and his case was postponed to 18 August for further investigation.
“More charges are likely to be added as the investigation continues,” said Ntabazalila.
Two months ago, residents of Site C marched to Khayelitsha SAPS demanding cops not to arrest Bara.
They said he has been protecting their kasi, and there were no murders in the past year because he had opened car washes for amapharaphara to keep them off the streets.
Cele believed the arrest was a step closer in dealing with mass killings in Khayelitsha, that had been torn by various scenes of murders.
He said police had done a good job to put a man who lived outside of the law behind bars.
“This arrest will help us gain some ground in our efforts to fight crime in the province. We believe the arrest of Bara will solve many other cases, especially in Khayelitsha,” added the minister.