Moses Sithole in Court at Brakpan: AP Footage, December 1995

Associated Press footage from December 5, 1995: protesters and armed police outside Brakpan Magistrates' Court as Moses Sithole, accused of 31 murders, is led from the court. No narration; Sithole is not heard.

Subject

Moses Sithole

Recorded

December 5, 1995

Runtime

1:33

Content warning: Concerns the rape and murder of women; no graphic detail.

The Footage

This is Associated Press television footage from December 5, 1995, of Moses Sithole's appearance at the Brakpan Magistrates' Court, east of Johannesburg, weeks after his arrest. It has no narration and no interview: the sound is that of the scene. Protesters gather outside the court, which is cordoned off and guarded by armed police, and Sithole is then led from the court by police. He is not heard. According to AP's description, he was not asked to plead at the brief hearing, and the court ordered him held for 30 days of psychiatric observation.

Historical Context

Over more than a year in 1994 and 1995, the bodies of more than 30 women were found in open fields around Atteridgeville near Pretoria, Boksburg on the East Rand, and Cleveland in Johannesburg. The killings, linked by the initials of those places, were attributed to a man the press called the "ABC Killer". In October 1995 a man phoned Mandla Mthembu, a reporter at The Star newspaper, claiming to be the killer. Police named Moses Sithole as their suspect and circulated his photograph. He was arrested in Benoni, on the East Rand, on October 18, 1995, and was shot and wounded when, police said, he came at an officer with an axe.

Circumstances of the Footage

At the time of this hearing Sithole was accused of 31 murders, the count given in AP's title. Feeling against him was running high, and police had cordoned off the area around the court. AP's description notes that he still bore the injuries of his violent arrest. He was to be formally charged once the attorney-general had finished preparing the case.

What the Footage Shows

The footage shows the protest outside the court, the police guard, and Sithole being led from the courtroom. No words from the hearing are heard, and no one is interviewed.

What Makes the Recording Significant

The footage is an early record of Sithole in custody, two years before his trial, and of the public anger his case caused in Gauteng in 1995.

Archival Importance

Sithole was tried in the Pretoria High Court and, on December 5, 1997, two years to the day after this hearing, was sentenced by Judge David Curlewis for 38 murders, 40 rapes and six robberies, to a total of 2,410 years, with no parole for at least 930 years. This footage is the AP's agency record of his first weeks in the justice system.

Important Caveats

Sithole does not speak, and the footage has no narration; the facts given here come from AP's description and other sources, not from the sound. The count of 31 murders was the figure in December 1995; he was later convicted of 38. Sources differ on the date of his arrest: AP's description says it was "more than two months" before this hearing, while South African History Online records the police announcing it on October 19, 1995, and other accounts give October 18. Brakpan is a town on the East Rand, not part of Johannesburg itself. None of the surviving victims is named.

Pull quotes (optional)

No spoken words can be quoted: the footage has natural sound only and no intelligible speech. Use a description instead, for example: "AP footage, December 5, 1995: protesters outside Brakpan Magistrates' Court as Moses Sithole is led from the court by police."

Natural Sound: [no intelligible speech: crowd noise and protest outside the court, as described by AP; Whisper fragments at 00:00 to 00:06 treated as machine artifacts]

Natural Sound: [no intelligible speech]

Natural Sound: [no intelligible speech; Whisper fragment over 01:06 to 01:33 treated as a machine artifact]