The lawyer of the man accused of starting a fire which left parliament gutted says he has been pleading with his client to eat.
This after 49-year-old Zandile Christmas Mafe went on a hunger strike on 11 January in protest “of how the court was treating him”.
Speaking outside the Western Cape High Court on Saturday following an urgent bail application before Judge President John Hlophe, his lawyer, Advocate Luvuyo Godla said: “We persuaded him to eat, unsuccessfully.
“Now that there is at least progress for the first time, we walk out of court happy today, we will go to him and convince him that now that the wheels of justice are moving, to please reconsider his position (on the hunger strike).”
Godla says they sought the urgent bail application because they were not happy with the Cape Town Magistrates’ Court’s decision to send Mafe to Valkenberg Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
“We did not get justice in lower courts, on two occasions, on the first appearance he was supposed to be released on bail, automatically and that didn’t happen,” he explains.
“Second occasion we were surprised by the Section 77 referral (the mental observation) and now when you feel that justice is not done, the system allows you to approach the court with inherent jurisdiction so that it can interfere.”
National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Eric Ntabazalila says Mafe’s bail application was postponed to Saturday, 22 January.
On Tuesday, Mafe is set to appear in court again, where his legal team will question the legality of the court order sending him to Valkenberg.
“After hearing the parties’ arguments on Tuesday, the judges are likely to make an order by the end of the day which will pave the way for the bail application to be heard next Saturday,” says Ntabazalila.