Sangoma in the Kutlwano Shalaba murder case abandons bail due to illegal status

VANDERBIJLPARK - The lawyer of Sebokoane Khoanyana, a Lesotho national and sangoma accused of human trafficking and the premeditated murder of the two-year-old Kutlwano Shalaba, says his client has abandoned his bail application because he is in South Africa illegally. Khoanyana’s lawyer, Gladmore Nyamanda, told the Vanderbijlpark Magistrates Court on Wednesday that his client was warned his undocumented status would weaken any bid for bail. Khoanyana appeared alongside co-accused Keneilwe Shalaba, the child's mother, who was arrested in November last year after reporting her son kidnapped. Investigations later linked her to his disappearance and murder. Khoanyana was arrested only last month, and both accused remain behind bars. According to reports, Shalaba allegedly received R75,000 in her bank account on the day the child went missing. The state alleges the killing was premeditated, and investigations into the suspected human trafficking motives are ongoing.