Prosecutor accuses Shebeshxt of lying during Polokwane bail hearing

The hearing will continue on Tuesday at 9am. Shebeshxt remains in custody. State prosecutor Advocate Kgaugelo Lekoloane accused Lekompo musician Lehlogonolo “Shebeshxt” Chauke of lying and avoiding questions during cross-examination at the Polokwane Magistrate’s Court on Monday. Chauke is applying for bail on new facts, his third attempt since his arrest in November 2025. He denied misleading the court and said some of the confusion was a misunderstanding. Chauke faces 21 charges, including four counts of attempted murder, assault and malicious damage to property. They stem from an alleged shooting in Ladanna, Polokwane, in which a fan was wounded. The High Court dismissed his appeals after his earlier bail bids failed in the magistrate’s court. His trial is scheduled for May 2027, and the bail hearing is set to run until Thursday. Claims about investigating officer Chauke claimed that the investigating officer, Captain Phaladi Makola, was related to the complainant, Ralefatana, and accused the officer of framing him. He said Makola told him about the link on 10 July 2026, and that he had no platform to raise it other than his affidavit. The prosecutor insisted Makola would deny the relationship when he testified. Chauke said he had also spoken to a man named Kwenisto, who could back up the claim. According to Chauke, Kwenisto told him he was related both to Makola and the complainant. Chauke said Kwenisto refused to sign a supporting affidavit out of fear. “The reason we did not file a confirmatory affidavit from Kwenisto is that he was once here in court and he told me that he’s afraid to do so because he was threatened by Mr Makola,” he stated. Chauke then asked how the prosecutor could know what Makola would say when he had not yet taken the stand. Lekoloane did not answer, stating that Chauke was not in a position to ask questions. “You don’t ask me any questions; you are the one to answer questions,” the prosecutor said. Watch: Shebesxht testifies in bail hearing COURT UPDATE: Lehlogonolo Katlego Chauke is testifying in his second bail application based on new facts. 🎥 NPA: Maabanna Chegofatjo https://t.co/Z5ueIKNaXG– NPASouthAfrica (@NPA_Prosecutes) October 26, 2026 Disputes over the docket and the passenger The prosecutor asked Chauke whether Makola ever opened a case against him. He said Sergeant Lekgodi opened the case and the docket. Chauke agreed that the officer who first took the statement was not Makola, but said he did not know it was Lekgodi. Lekoloane then accused him of trying to make the court believe Makola had registered the statement. Chauke rejected this. “I did not say that Mr Makola opened the docket,” Chauke replied. The cross-examination then turned to Lehlohonolo Ntari Molapo, a friend Chauke named for the first time since his arrest. Molapo was revealed to have been the last person with Chauke before his arrest. The prosecutor pressed Chauke on why he hadn’t stated this at the beginning. However, Chauke claimed he learned about the unnamed passenger in July. He also said he was alone when he was arrested; as such, he did not see it as relevant to mention to the police or in court who he had been with. The prosecutor argued that Chauke raised the passenger during the first bail application, when Chauke was in court. “I did not hear that. The issue of the unknown person, I learnt about it after receiving the copies of the statements,” Chauke maintained. Lekoloane said Chauke had hidden the man’s identity from the start. “You have always been concealing the identity of your passenger. The first time you were arrested, you did not tell the police; the second time, you did a bail application, and you did not tell the court. It’s only now that you just give us only the name,” the prosecutor said. Questions on Xfuels Ladanna and the timeline Chauke told the court that police mentioned petrol station XFuels Ladanna when they arrested him, but that he had been alone there. He said this was why Molapo had not come up. “Firstly, there was no way in which I was gonna mention him because I was not with him when I was arrested for the alleged incident at XFuels,” Chauke insisted. The prosecutor said the charges, with the date and place, were read to Chauke in court, and that no mention of XFuels Ladanna was made then. He called Chauke’s version a lie and pointed to Makola’s earlier evidence. “That cannot be true, because when Captain Makola testified in the first bail application, he mentioned that the incident happened at that time around 4 o’clock in the morning,” the prosecutor argued. Chauke, in turn, pointed to differences in the police timeline. He said he parted ways with Molapo at about 7am. “The first police statement said the incident occurred at 3:20am, meanwhile Mr Makola said the incident occurred at 4am,” Chauke said. The prosecutor agreed the times differed, but asked why Chauke had stayed silent about this in earlier applications. Chauke denied noticing the gap before. Shebeshxt accused of dodging questions Lekoloane also accused Chauke of deviating, instead of answering directly. He raised Chauke’s statement that the regional court had denied him bail. Chauke explained that he held back from applying there because the court kept adding charges. The prosecutor said the record did not support the claim. “It has never been your application in the regional court that you be admitted to bail up until Advocate Sikhwari SC came on record,” the prosecutor said. Chauke agreed, but denied lying. He said he may have mistaken advice to apply in the district court for a refusal. Lekoloane added that the regional magistrate could not hear bail on new facts because she was presiding over his trial. The hearing later became a legal argument over whether Chauke’s supplementary affidavit replaced parts of his main one. The magistrate asked both sides to clarify their positions and postponed the hearing, which will continue on Tuesday at 9am. Chauke remains in custody.