Ngizwe Mchunu’s lawyers to present their case in bail application

Lawyers for Ngizwe Mchunu will present their case in a bail application set to continue at the Randburg Magistrate’s Court today.

Mchunu was charged with inciting public violence as part of the insurrection earlier this month and two counts of contravening the Disaster Management Act, at his bail application which began yesterday.

The 40-year-old Phoenix resident is a supporter of former president Jacob Zuma and severely criticised the country’s lead ership and judiciary for sending him to jail.

Senior prosecutor Yusuf Baba said that although Mchunu was charged with a schedule one offence, he should be denied bail because he is a flight risk.

Baba detailed the sequence of events from 7 July, when Zuma handed himself over to police.

“The accused [Mchunu] gave an interview to SABC news outside Zuma’s Nkandla home where he said ‘this is war!’,” Baba told the court.

Mchunu was described as a social media influencer with thousands of followers across Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and a personal website, Ngizwe Online.

Mchunu left KwaZulu-Natal for Gauteng on 11 July, the eve of widespread riots that would bring the province to its knees. Bizarrely, Mchunu recorded himself in a series of videos from the time he touched down in Lanseria Airport and his journey to KwaMai Mai taxi rank and Bryanston.

In a series of what looked like video journals, Mchunu details how he evaded police on five occasions, saying he does not know why he is wanted.

The state said Mchunu alsostopped at the KwaMai Mai taxi rank to sing and dance before addressing followers. In that video Mchunu, says he is “addressing the nation as a layman and leader of the illiterate and young men”.

“I am not politically affiliated with any party or person,” he stressed in isiZulu. Mchunu then complained about how cruel and unfair the justice system was to imprison Zuma and that the former president should be at home playing with his grandchildren.

Mchunu said the aim of Zuma’s imprisonment was to embarrass him and warned of a shutdown coming.