Bail bid in Durban: why the October 10 shutdown still costs traders and commuters

Wandile Nsibande, a March and March movement member on parole, told the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Friday that he would not interfere with police investigations if granted bail, and denied resisting arrest earlier this month.

Nsibande, 36, is applying for bail of R1,000. He is charged alongside co-accused Sphelele ‘Magolide’ Shinga and Malizo Dzanibe. The State opposed his release.

As IOL reported on 16 October, Nsibande conceded he was on parole and said an assault case against him in Eshowe had been withdrawn. In an affidavit read by his lawyer, Xolani Zuma, he said he has no passport, has a 13-month-old son he supports, works as a musician earning about R5,000 a month, and provided an alternative address in Pinetown. “I have no fear for my wellbeing or safety should I be granted bail,” he told the court.

Zuma, who is also the husband of March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma, played audio and video recordings he said showed the movement was not involved in the violent protests that erupted in Durban’s central business district on 10 October. He also played an audio recording of police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda explaining what had transpired during the protests. According to Zuma, the recording made it clear that March and March members had been camping at the refugee centre on Moore Road, rather than in the CBD where the violent protests took place.

Senior prosecutor Roshiela Benimadho told the court the State opposed bail because Nsibande would endanger public safety, undermine the justice system, evade trial and commit further offences. She said there was no personal vendetta against him. Benimadho maintained he had resisted arrest and played a video recording she said showed him challenging police officers to shoot him. According to the prosecutor, Nsibande was aggressive and carrying a stick. “The accused was placed on parole on April 15, 2022, and he is still under supervision until 2034,” Benimadho said.

The bail proceedings continue.

For the people who work in and travel through Durban’s CBD, the hearing is not an abstract legal argument. The 10 October protests shut down a stretch of the city centre. Traders who rely on a day’s takings lost that day. Commuters who use the CBD as a transport hub had to find another way home. That cost is real and it has not been refunded by anyone.

What the court must decide is narrower. It is whether Nsibande should be released on bail while the charges against him are tested. The dispute over what happened on 10 October, and who was responsible, is part of the evidence both sides are putting before the magistrate. The State says Nsibande resisted arrest. He denies it. The movement’s lawyer says the recordings show March and March was at the Moore Road refugee centre, not in the CBD. The State has not accepted that account.

For traders and commuters, the practical question is what happens next. If the bail application is refused, Nsibande remains in custody and the case continues from there. If it is granted, he will be subject to bail conditions the court sets. Either way, the shutdown’s cost to the people who lost a day’s income is not something the court is being asked to fix.

That is the gap between the courtroom and the street. The hearing is about an individual’s liberty and the State’s case. The people who felt the shutdown in their pockets are not parties to it. They will watch the outcome the same way they watched the protest itself, from the outside, and count what it cost them.

The Enquirer reported the 10 October shutdown as it happened. The bail hearing is the next step in the legal process that followed. The court has not yet ruled on bail.