Parliament arson: Zandile Mafe refuses to appear in court again, case postponed

Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe has again refused to leave Cape Town’s Pollsmoor Prison for his court appearance on Friday, at the Western Cape High Court.

This is the third time Mafe has refused to appear in court. He previously refused to appear in the dock on two previous dates in August and September last year, since his arrest in January 2022.

Parliament arson accused

Mafe‘s lawyer Luvuyo Godla on Friday informed the high court he didn’t know why his client was refusing to leave his prison cell to attend his pre-trial hearing.

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State prosecutor advocate Mervyn Menigo told the court even the manager at the prison facility “tried to coax” Mafe to come to court, but that didn’t work.

Godla told Judge Nape Dolamo that Mafe should be referred for psychiatric evaluation.

In May last year, the Western Cape High Court set aside the state’s previous psychiatric evaluation by a district surgeon that had diagnosed Mafe with paranoid schizophrenia.

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

Mafe has been in custody since January 2022 when he was arrested in connection with the Parliament fire on 2 January 2022, which destroyed the Old and New Assembly buildings.

He faces charges of housebreaking with intent to commit arson, arson, terrorism and theft.

Refusal to appear in court

On the two previous court dates Mafe refused to appear in court, Godla informed the judge that his client had gone on a hunger strike and demanded a television set and radio to watch and listen to the news.

He also demanded a kettle to make himself coffee and warm water to take baths because the water at Pollsmoor Prison was apparently cold.

Mafe was eventually given a Kenwood kettle and a TV set as per his demands.

Judge Dolamo postponed the matter to 10 February 2023 for an order to be made on the psychiatric evaluation.

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