There was drama in court again today when the former Springbok weightlifter accused of dagga cultivation appeared for the third time to apply for bail.
Today’s drama comes after the accused’s advocate, Morkel du Preez, was unable to find the court for his client’s first appearance, resulting in the hearing being postponed for a week. Then the accused misunderstood and thought that “Du Preez forgot to inform his client that he was on holiday in Zambia”. This was not so since Du Preez did send another representative from his firm on the day. When the prosecutor heard today that the accused had since fired his legal council and that his new lawyer would need time to review his client’s case, he called the developments thus far a ‘drama’. The bail application has now been postponed for the third time, until Friday, 16 September.
Meanwhile, the leader of the South African Dagga Party, Jeremy Acton, has made good on his promise to assist the accused. He has helped the accused to file an urgent roll application for a stay of prosecution with the High Court in Pretoria. Acton has thus far succeeded in getting 36 stays of prosecution granted, by challenging the Constitution. His challenge is based on his conviction that he “questions the constitutionality of the criminal prohibition of dagga as provided for in sections 4(b) and 5(b), read with Part III of Schedule 2 of the Drugs and Drug Trafficking Act 140 of 1992, on the basis that it is irrational, unjustifiable and unjust, and therefore inconsistent with the fundamental principals of justice and the rules of law and with legality”.
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