By Johnathan Paoli
The State has told the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court that it received information alleging self-proclaimed political fixer Brown Mogotsi planned to escape from court last week by disguising himself as a correctional services official.
Mogotsi appeared in court on Tuesday on his fourth attempt to secure bail, with the State opposing the application despite his defence arguing that it was based on new and material facts.
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According to an updated affidavit by the investigating officer, Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Odendaal, he received a call from Colonel David Masenya of the Johannesburg Correctional Services Centre at 7.29am on 20 August.
“Colonel Masenya informed me that Mr. Brown Mogotsi has planned an escape from court on 20 August 2026. He informed me that the plan is that he would disguise [himself] in the uniform of a correctional official and would walk out of the court cells,” Odendaal’s statement read.
Odendaal said he subsequently made arrangements for surveillance at the court, and said he was later informed that officers escorting Mogotsi from the Johannesburg Correctional Services Centre had received the same information.
According to the affidavit, the alleged escape plan prompted officials to take additional security measures, after the incident had been reported to the head of Medium B at the correctional centre.
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Mogotsi was subsequently removed from the vehicle that was about to transport him to court and leg irons were placed around his ankles “to minimise an escape”.
State prosecutor Thami Mpekana informed the court that the report from Masenya was still busy being completed, but confirmed it would support the allegations contained in the investigating officer’s affidavit.
Mogotsi’s defence advocate, Nthabiseng Mohomane, did not oppose the postponement but indicated that the absence of the report made it difficult for the defence to respond fully to the allegations.
“Your Worship, the court will note that every application that comes is made with new allegations that are always accompanying the application, but be that as it may, in the absence of this report, there’s not much we can do further,” she said.
Mohomane asked the court to set a final date for the State to provide the report.
She also described the latest bail application as one involving new and material information.
Mohomane told the court that Mogotsi’s wife had moved to a new, verifiable address where he could reside.
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The defence also proposed that Mogotsi be permitted to stay at an alternative Johannesburg address belonging to a family friend, where he could sign as a bail condition.
Mohomane argued that these arrangements constituted “new and material information that was not available at the time of the initial bail application”.
The State, however, questioned whether the new addresses reduced the risk that Mogotsi could abscond.
Mpekana said investigators had visited both properties and verified certain aspects of the arrangements, but maintained that neither property was registered in the names of the people providing the accommodation.
He argued that Mogotsi had changed the addresses presented to the court and that this raised concerns about whether he could be relied upon to remain at a fixed residence.
He said that there was “nothing that ties the applicant to any of the addresses supplied” and that Mogotsi could change his address and abscond.
Mogotsi has been in custody since his arrest in May in connection with allegations that he staged an assassination attempt against himself in Vosloorus, Ekurhuleni, in November last year.
The State alleges that Mogotsi fired 11 shots at his own vehicle before falsely reporting that unknown gunmen had attacked him.
Investigators recovered 11 spent cartridges, while ballistic evidence and CCTV footage allegedly contradicted his version of events.
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The State has said that the vehicle was stationary when it was shot and that no one was inside.
Mogotsi faces charges including perjury, defeating the ends of justice, unlawful possession of a firearm and ammunition, discharging a firearm in a public place and allegedly attempting to bribe the investigating officer.
The matter was postponed to 1 September to allow the State to provide the outstanding report relating to the alleged escape plan.
