The bail application for twelve members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) Special Task Force is set to resume on Thursday in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court.
The accused are facing serious charges, including the 2023 murder of Lieutenant Colonel Frans Mathipa, a specialist investigator with the Hawks, and the 2022 kidnapping and disappearance of Ethiopian national Abdella Abadiga, who was allegedly linked to ISIS.
Mathipa was reportedly probing Abadiga’s disappearance when he was fatally shot in August 2023. He was ambushed and gunned down while driving along the N1 highway near the Hammanskraal off-ramp.
The case has raised significant public and political concern, given the involvement of elite military personnel and the alleged links to international terrorism. The hearing continues.