Brakpan – Suspended Deputy Chief of the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Police Department (EMPD), Julius Doctor Mkhwanazi, and five co-accused have been denied bail in the matter of the murder of businesss man Emannuel Mbense.
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) on Tuesday, 15 September 2026, successfully opposed a bail application brought by six accused persons in the Brakpan Magistrate’s Court.
The six accused include 50-year-old Mkhwanazi, 42-year-old businessman Cobus Janse van Rensburg, former EMPD official 43-year-old Adrian Norman Mackenzie; and three former South African Police Service (SAPS) officials, 36-year-old Bhekokwakhe Sibande, 40-year-old Keisha-Leigh Stols and 33-year-old Juan Maree Eksteen.
All the accused face charges of murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, and defeating the administration of justice.
It is alleged that on 14 April 2022, the accused assaulted and murdered Mbense at his residence after suspecting him of stealing copper from a warehouse.
Following the alleged murder, they reportedly robbed the deceased of his personal property and approximately R500 000 in cash.
The State further alleges that the accused disposed of the deceased’s body by dumping it at Spaarwater Dam.
The State opposed the accused’s release on bail on the grounds of the seriousness of the offences and the risk that they might evade trial.
In delivering the bail judgment, the court found that the accused had failed to place sufficient evidence before the court to demonstrate the existence of exceptional circumstances which, in the interests of justice, would warrant their release on bail.
Consequently, bail was denied for all six accused.
The matter was postponed to 24 November 2026 for further investigation and to allow for the arrest and addition of an outstanding suspect.
