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Armed-robbery suspect Willie Moses Khoza got appointment as police-officer while his trial was still serving in court…

Rapport newspaper – July 9 2006 -- In 1999, Willie Moses Khoza, then 38, was arrested by the murder-and-robbery-squad in Pretoria for carrying out an armed robbery at the Waltloo-testing station. He was released on bail. Later on he pleaded guilty and his trial was seperated from co-accused’s.

At the time of the robbery, Khoza was a lockmaker living in Eersterust when he allegedly participated in an armed robbery with Aubrey Swarts and another man on 22 January 1999 and robbed R44,624 in cash. The case against Khoza and Swarts dragged on after Khoza admitted guilt and his case was seperated from the others. The docket then disappeared. A copy of the docket was drawn up and Khoza and Swarts appeared in the regional court – this time denying all guilt. The court heard that some of the robbed cash was found on him when he was arrested.

Yet while this case was dragging on, it was also revealed that Khoza meanwhile was appointed as a police-officer ‘as a fulltime member of the SAPS Pretoria police band.” The police claimed that he ‘was a musician and not a fully operational police member responsible for combatting crime,’ explained inspector Amanda Mosiane.

“But what about his pending court case for armed robbery, for which he had already pleaded guilty once before?’ Beeld journalist Sonja Carstens asked her: … “That’s won’t necessarily play a role in his work for the SAPF as a musician,’ Mosiane replied…

Khoza was actually at the police-training college when he was issued with a summons for using the police-college facilities to practice and store their musical instruments, wrote Carstens.

Outraged police members told Rapport that it ‘was ridiculous that suspected armed robbers who are in the middle of their trial, can be admitted to the police force. Where will this end? For members of the public, Khoza would not merely be seen as a musician at the police band. For the public, Khosa is a suspected armed robber who managed to get an appointment as a police officer in the middle of his armed-robbery trial.’

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