A sixth suspect linked to the Nomzamo Park tavern shooting in Orlando, Soweto, made his first appearance at the Orlando Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

The sixth accused, aged 32, appeared separately from the other five, who appeared earlier on Monday. The charges against all six include 19 counts of murder, multiple counts of attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances and possession of illegal firearms and ammunition.

Magistrate Mohamad Jooma told the court that the bail application by the other five accused would not go ahead because the prosecutor, Carla Britz, was unwell. During their previous court appearance in December, Britz had asked the court to postpone the case to 16 January because she was due for leave.

During that court hearing, one of the accused alleged, in an affidavit, that rivalry between two Basotho burial societies was at the centre of the Nomzamo tavern killings. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “‘Burial society rivalry’ at the heart of Nomzamo tavern mass shooting, says one accused at bail hearing” 

The magistrate ordered the media not to reveal the identities of the accused.

When asked by the court if he had any previous convictions, the sixth accused said he had none, “but I was once arrested for not having a passport”.

The State alleges the six suspects were part of a group that entered the Mdlalose tavern in July last year and fired more than 130 shots at patrons, leaving 16 dead and several injured.

In his sworn statement, one of the accused testified that rivalry between two Basotho burial societies, Terene ea Khosi Chakela and Terene ea Khosi Mokata was at the centre of the killings and that he belonged to the latter burial society.

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The accused, a former police officer-turned-businessman, further deposed in his affidavit that the tavern killings were undertaken as revenge for the murder of a member of the Terene ea Khosi Chakela society the previous week.

“They believed people from our burial society were responsible. On the night of the murder, members of their burial society contacted them and told them that our burial society members were at the tavern,” his affidavit read.

He said that members of Terene ea Khosi Mokata society then stormed the tavern to kill his burial society members. He said Terene ea Khosi Mokata members randomly opened fire on patrons inside the tavern, but his burial society members had already left the premises.

The case against all six was postponed to 31 January. DM