Zolani Tete’s father says family still reeling from his death
Eastern Cape boxer Zolani Tete’s father says the family is still reeling from his death .
Zolile Tete was speaking to the media outside Mdantsane Magistrates’ Court, where two of the accused in the case appeared earlier.
He says while he has forgiven the accused and their families, the pain remains, and he currently has nothing to say to them.
He also noted that Zolani’s eight-year-old son, who was in the vehicle when his father was shot, is still struggling to cope.
“I don’t have a problem if they got bail or not.
There was nothing I was going to do.
In the end, Zolani won’t come back.
There is honestly nothing I can say.” VIDEO | Zolile Tete says he is pleased with court proceedings thus far: The court refused bail to the two men accused of orchestrating the murder of boxing champion , ruling that neither had shown it would be in the interests of justice to release them.
Magistrate Anton Pretorius delivered judgment in the case of the alleged 22-year-old mastermind and the 28-year-old alleged middleman, who had applied for bail while awaiting trial.
They face charges including premeditated murder, conspiracy to commit murder, attempted murder and unlawful possession of firearms.
Two co-accused alleged to have carried out the shooting itself had already abandoned their own bail bids and remain in custody.
In his ruling, Magistrate Pretorius found that the accused had failed to satisfy the court that exceptional circumstances existed to justify their release.
He pointed to the gravity of the charges and risk that the pair would evade trial, as well as concerns raised earlier in proceedings about intense community anger, including a petition from local residents, warning that neither men’s safety could be guaranteed if released.
The court also noted Tete’s stature as a widely admired figure in South African boxing, a status the alleged mastermind himself was said to have acknowledged, having reportedly described the boxer as a hero in earlier evidence before the court.
5News aggregated this summary from the outlet’s public feed. The full article, with all the context, is on www.sabcnews.com — the content belongs to SABC News South Africa.
