The state and defence in the murder case of media personality Warrick “DJ Warras” Stock have clashed over the address of the accused, 44-year-old Victor Majola.
Majola appeared in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday to continue with his bail application.
Stock was fatally shot on 16 December outside a building near the Carlton Centre in Johannesburg’s central business district (CBD).
The 44-year-old Majola was arrested on 22 December and is facing a schedule 6 offence of premeditated murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
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In his affidavit, read in court on Tuesday, Majola submitted that he should be granted bail because the state knows his address, among other reasons.
Investigating officer Captain Abe Montwedi also told the court on Tuesday that a statement he obtained from an induna, Tholakele Ngubane, stated Majola moved into the hostel only three days before Stock was fatally shot.
Accused’s address in question
Majola’s attorney, Dumisani Mabunda, on Wednesday told the court that other indunas in the hostel had informed him they did not know who Ngubane was.
“This matter is of public interest. Now the induna and other indunas in that particular hostel watched this matter with shock, to say that you approached many of them, to an extent that they approached the family of the accused to say that, ‘We do not know that induna that the officer is talking about’. They made a statement to confirm that the accused stays at that particular address,” said Mabunda.
However, Montwedi insisted he spoke to an induna in charge of the block where Majola stayed.
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“When I went to the hostel, I looked for the induna of room 50, block 3, and I was shown a man and told he was an induna of the area. I don’t disagree with the defence; there are many indunas, and they are from different places in KwaZulu-Natal. There are so many indunas at the hostel, so the one I spoke to confirmed and gave a statement to me. He is responsible for that unit. I spoke to the right one,” said Montwedi.
The statement from the induna reads in part: I, Tholakele Ngubane, a 59-year-old induna, stay in room 20, block 3, Merafe Hostel. I have been an induna since 2020. I [have known] room 50 since I came here. It has been vacant after the lawful owner went to Denver Hostel. Victor Majola, I saw him three days before his address. I don’t know where he was staying before.”
Ward councillor’s statement
The defence brought out a statement from a ward councillor, who confirmed that Majola was a resident of the ward.
However, Montwedi insinuated that the statement of an induna was more credible because he, too, stayed at the hostel, whereas a ward councillor, a “political deployee”, resides in the area.
“I will, at a later stage, request to bring a supplementary affidavit to help the court make a declaration on this matter,” said Mabunda.
Montwedi responded: “I won’t have a problem with that. I spoke to the induna who stays there, and the ward councillor stays elsewhere. I went to the Jabulani Civic Centre and gave them the ID number of the applicant to see whether he owns any assets in Gauteng, and the statement they gave me said he does not own any assets in Gauteng.
“If ever the ward councillor was aware of him, he could have told me to say he knows Majola and that he has been staying in that hostel. The councillor is the one who took me to the civic centre to their housing department, and I was given a printout saying he doesn’t own any property in Gauteng.”
