\n\t\tKhumalo faced charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) and pointing a firearm.\n\t<\/p>\n
ActionSA\u2019s Ekurhuleni mayoral candidate, Xolani Khumalo, has been acquitted of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) and pointing a firearm, clearing him of all charges in the high\u2011profile case.<\/p>\n
Khumalo and his co-accused, Duma Radebe, chairperson of Gauteng Anti-Crime Units, appeared in the Palm Ridge Magistrate\u2019s Court on Thursday.<\/p>\n
During the ruling, the court granted Khumalo and Radebe a discharge in terms of section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. They were found not guilty.<\/p>\n
Charges<\/p>\n
The charges against Khumalo stemmed from a televised anti-drug raid on 19 December 2025, during which a suspected drug dealer in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, alleged that Khumalo and others assaulted him and threatened him with a firearm at his home.<\/p>\n
Following their arrests in January 2026, Radebe was granted bail of R500, while Khumalo was released on R2 000 bail.<\/p>\n
Elation<\/p>\n
In a post on X, Khumalo shared his elation at being found not guilty.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe court has found me not guilty on all charges, confirming that justice has prevailed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trial<\/p>\n
During the trial, the state laid out its case, alleging that the complainant, Bongani Radebe, was physically assaulted and threatened during the raid.<\/p>\n
The court heard that Bongani was allegedly struck and beaten with a firearm. He also alleged that he had a weapon pointed at him in violation of the Firearms Control Act.<\/p>\n
Both accused pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
Assault<\/p>\n
Giving evidence, Bongani recounted the events of the raid, claiming he was subjected to prolonged violence while being interrogated about alleged drugs.<\/p>\n
He testified that his hands were restrained behind his back while he was allegedly assaulted with a firearm and kicked repeatedly.<\/p>\n
He further stated that a plastic bag was placed over his head during the ordeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were suffocating me using that rubbish plastic bag while simultaneously being assaulted. [I was told] you are going to take out the drugs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to the witness, the alleged assault lasted between 45 minutes and an hour and continued outside the property before he was transported to a police station.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Khumalo faced charges of assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm (GBH) and pointing a firearm. ActionSA\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301879,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[52],"tags":[7399,2951,5672,65454,26656,6055,131,16435],"class_list":["post-301878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-south-africa","tag-actionsa","tag-assault","tag-ekurhuleni","tag-firearm","tag-herman-mashaba","tag-mayor","tag-south-africa","tag-xolani-khumalo"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@africa\/116811611714817598","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301879"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}