![[File Image] William Mpembe and his co-accused have been implicated in the crime by two police officers who have turned state witnesses.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/SABC-News-William-Mpembe-others.jpg)
Lawyers representing four police officers from the North West, have applied for a discharge of the case after several investigators of the Independent Police Investigation Directorate (Ipid) testified.
They are accused of defeating the ends of justice after they allegedly failed to report the death of a Marikana mineworker in police custody.
Modisaotsile Sagalala was shot during the Marikana tragedy in 2012.
Click below to watch a video on the commemoration:
The court heard shocking evidence about the conduct of police during the August 2012 Marikana massacre, which claimed 34 lives.
The legal representatives of General William Mpembe the overall commander of the Joint Operations Centre at the time as well as Gideon van Zyl, Oupa Pule and Dingaan Madoda told the court that there was no evidence that the men had lied about the circumstances around the death of Modisaotsile Sagalala.
According to the charge sheet the men indicated that Sagalala died in the nearby Andrew Saffy hospital while he in fact died in a police vehicle.
In their statement, police had recorded that Sagalala died with the other 34 mineworkers at the Marikana koppie on the 16th of August, 2012.
The trial continues.
![[File Image]: Former president Jacob Zuma sits in the dock after recess in his corruption trial in Pietermaritzburg.](https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/SABC-News-Jacob-Zuma-Reuters-120x86.jpg)
