How did Yanga "Bara" Nyalara the Western Cape's most wanted man, who allegedly murdered 18 people, go from being denied bail for blowing up a cash-in-transit heist van in the Eastern Cape to ruling Khayelitsha with the gun for 2 years before being caught?
How did Ayanda "Stix" Yisaka, an alleged leader of the Boko Haram extortion gang in Gugulethu, go from being denied bail following a shootout with the police's Special Task Force on the N1 Highway in Paarl to allegedly gunning down 9 people, killing 4, in Gugulethu in June?
How was Solomon Phahlane Ngubeni, paroled in 2014 instead of 2027? The convicted cash-in-transit heist robber was arrested for the murder of Hawks officers Wynand Herbst and Delene Grobler-Koonin in Mafikeng in 2020 when he and members of his gang should have been in jail.
How did Themba Hlatshwayo take part in the same cash-in-transit heist in which he and his gang killed Hawks officers in March 2020 when he was only eligible for parole at the end of that year? He was one of three robbers killed in the shootout with police.
Nyalara was arrested in March 2019 after he and his gang allegedly ambushed and blew up a cash van in Libode in the Eastern Cape with the two guards still inside. The 30-year-old was a student teacher at a school in Mfuleni but he was better known as a taxi owner and thug...
At first, he was denied bail by the Libode Magistrates Court when the investigators successfully opposed his bail. 11 Months later, his lawyers bring an application with "new facts" accompanied by an affidavit from an officer saying they no longer have a problem with his release.
Be reminded that he had a history of cases before this, and was well known as a dangerous criminal, which is why they initially fought for him to remain behind bars while facing charges of attempted murder, aggravated robbery, kidnapping, possession of fully automatic firearms...
and ammunition, and the blowing up of a cash-in-transit van with two security guards inside. CIT Heists of this nature are Schedule 6 offences (according to a senior prosecutor source) and the onus is on the accused to say why they should be released...
Nyalara has since allegedly threatened the community of Khayelitsha, sending out voicenotes saying that he would let criminals terrorise them after they protested against extortion in their township... Check out the story I did with @philanin on this.
One of the people I confirmed the voicenote with is a Khayelitsha SANCO chairman Bathanda Gali who was part of a march which called for the police to keep their "hands off" Nyalara. He said that he would only believe the allegations against Nyalara when he's seen evidence.