Phupa faces Justice

Phupa’s alleged victim, Junior Winkel, who still has a bullet lodged in his abdomen, has had to content with constant nightmares and has called on him to account

The once-feared strong man of the Motheo region and Regime Change leader, Mzwandile Phupa, will have to account for his alleged shooting of an ANC branch leader after his attempts to escape prosecution were thwarted by the courts.

Phupa’s manoeuvres to evade justice came to nought last week when the Thaba Nchu Magistrate court ruled that he had a prima facie case to answer in his alleged shooting of a local ANC branch leader last year.

Phupa had asked the magistrate to throw the attempted murder case against him out of court even before he took the stand to testify. The court rejected his application and held that he had a case to answer to.

The bellicose Phupa, who was called “a warlord” by those who were terrified of him, was first arrested in February 2012 after shooting Junior Winkel during an ANC branch meeting. The meeting had turned violent when about 60 ANC members attacked 42 fellow party members with pangas, knobkerries and rocks during a fight between two rival groups ahead of the provincial elective conference in June last year.

Phupa, who was leading a campaign to remove the provincial ANC leadership led by premier Ace Magashule, allegedly went to his car and pulled a firearm. He fired several random shots and one the bullets hit Winkel, who was the chairperson of the Enoch Sontonga branch, in the lower abdomen.

He maintains that he shot Winkel in self-defence and has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder. During his first court appearance on 29 February2012, the court learned that Phupa was once arrested and fined for theft 10 years ago. He is out on R1 000 bail.

Last week when Phupa was supposed to take the stand and testify about what had occurred on the day he allegedly shot Winkel, he recanted and applied for stay of prosecution on the case. According to the National Prosecuting Authority’s spokesperson, Phaladi Shuping, Phupa’s legal team made an application under Section 174 of Criminal Justice Act, for the charges against him to be dropped. In essence, Phupa wanted the court to acquit him without him testifying in court.