Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe referred for psychiatric evaluation

Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe has been referred for psychiatric evaluation at Fort England Psychiatric Hospital in Makhanda, Eastern Cape.

Parliament arson accused

Mafe on Tuesday appeared in the Western Cape High Court for a pre-trial hearing following his last court appearance earlier this month.

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The 51-year-old faces charges of housebreaking with intent to commit arson, arson, terrorism and theft in connection with the Parliament fire on 2 January 2022, which destroyed the Old and New Assembly buildings.

Mafe has denied the charges against him, with the defence insisting that he is being used as a scapegoat for the fire at Parliament.

Psychiatric evaluation

During Tuesday’s court proceedings, Judge Nathan Erasmus ordered that Mafe should be admitted to Fort England Psychiatric Hospital for a period of 30 days for an assessment to be done on whether he is mentally fit to stand trial.

The panel of psychiatrists will also focus on his state of mind on the day he allegedly committed the offence.

Last month, Mafe objected to being admitted to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital in Cape Town, due to an alleged bad treatment he received at the facility when he previously underwent his first psychiatric evaluation.

The Western Cape High Court set aside that psychiatric evaluation in May last year, after a district surgeon diagnosed him with paranoid schizophrenia.

The high court found that the referral by the state was “substantively and procedurally flawed” and resulted in “gross irregularity”.

Mafe’s pretrial hearing is expected to resume again on 8 May 2023.

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