Defence Advocate Dumisani Mabunda consulting with Jonathan Constable (left) and Bongani Khathide. PHOTO: Lindi Masinga/ANA
Alleged building hijacker Jonathan Constable was assassinated in Johannesburg on Monday.
Before his death, Constable had accused controversial KwaZulu-Natal businessman-turned-politician Roy Moodley of facilitating the hijacking of buildings in Johannesburg.
In 2018, Constable and Bongani Khathide were accused of allegedly hijacking two buildings in the Rosettenville area and faced charges of fraud.
Magistrate Lucas van Schyff read that the State charged the two with fraud as the tenants were allegedly told by Constable and Khathide that they did not have to pay a woman by the name of Grace rental because she could not prove that she was the owner of the property.
The State argued that the monthly fee the tenants paid to the National Immigrants Council of South Africa (NICSA) of R500 per month was a rental fee disguised as a membership fee.
“NICSA is not a group of people, but Constable on his own,” Van Schyff read.
“Nobody who hijacks a building will have a bond of almost R1 million. It is in my view that they are running a racket and knew that Grace owned the property.”
Magistrate Van Schyff said he felt that Constable and Khathide would continue with taking rental money from tenants if they were granted bail.
Constable was murdered in Braamfontein on Monday but before his death, Constable told the SAPS that the Hillbrow police were involved in corruption regarding the hijacked buildings within the inner city. Constable told the SAPS that the police were “made deals” with many Nigerian mafias over buildings in the inner city.
However, in the days leading up to his murder, Constable posted a series of messages on X, claiming Hillbrow police were corrupt. He also accused controversial businessman and African Movement Congress (AMC) leader Moodley of facilitating the hijacking of buildings in Johannesburg.
AMC national secretary Thabile Gwabiso told news publication Eyewitness News that Constable “swindled R76 000 from the party in January when he was hired to distribute regalia on behalf of the party across the country”.
Moodley is no stranger to controversy. Three years after the Durban High Court ordered the eThekwini Municipality to reopen a controversial R85-million-a-month security tender, by 2020 it had still not done so.
The beneficiary of the stalled tender seemed to be Moodley and eight other companies, Moodley’s Royal Security, got for the bulk of the work.
In 2010, Royal was awarded a series of tenders, totalling R471m, by the Passenger Rail Agency of South Africa (Prasa), according to the evidence presented to the Zondo commission.
At the time of his death, the police were still investigating Constable and the allegations he made about Moodley.
The Hillbrow police have said they can’t rule out anything at this point.
Constable was set to have a tell-all interview with The Star on New Year’s Eve last year but backed down, citing fears of “his enemies”.
Moodley has not been responding to The Star’s calls.
The Star
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