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Former Bafana player back in court for bail bid

Johannesburg - The bail bid of former Bafana Bafana soccer player Lebohang Morula and two others is expected to take place at the Boksburg Magistrate's Court on Tuesday.

Morula, and his two co-accused Obed Sithago and Sizabantu Mgadi, was postponed on April 20 for further investigations to take place.

The three were arrested on April 8 after being found in possession of a jamming device.

Sithago, who is unemployed, and Mgadi, a cellphone charger vendor, were dressed in official metro police uniforms at the time.

Police stopped their vehicle and searched it after receiving a tip-off that a gang planned to rob a truck carrying cigarettes on Main Reef Road in Boksburg.

Unverified addresses

On April 20, investigating officer Constable Derrick Masondo took the stand, where he told the court the three should not be granted bail.

He had not been able to verify the addresses of Morula and Mgadi.

Masondo said there had been no one home when he went to the address Morula had given them.

The two addresses Mgadi gave him did not exist, he said.

He told the court that Sithago could be a flight risk. Although he had no previous convictions, knowing that he could be jailed for six months for illegally being in possession of police uniform could make him run, Masondo said.

Morula, however, had two pending cases against him; one of armed robbery of a cash-in-transit vehicle and another of attempted murder. He was once again found in possession of a signal jammer in that matter. He was out on bail in both cases.

He also has previous convictions. One was malicious damage to property in 1986 and another of robbery in the 2000s.

Morula said he intended to plead not guilty. He claimed he knew of no laws that prevented him from being in possession of a jammer.

Cop uniform

The taxi owner said he used the jammer to block the cellphone signal during taxi meetings.

Meanwhile, through an affidavit, Sethago said he intended to plead guilty to illegally being in possession of police uniform and a jamming device.

"I deny however, that I pretended to be a police officer as I wore it underneath a tracksuit," said Sethago.

Mgadi denied being in possession of the jammer. He said he was arrested as he attempted to sell chargers on the side of the road.

The three men remained bars.

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