<\/p>\n
Cape Town – Parliament fire accused Zandile Mafe will undergo a mental evaluation for the next 30 days, as ordered by Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, during his second appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate\u2019s Court, Mafe heard that he faces an additional terrorism charge in connection with the blaze which gutted the National Assembly and parts of the Old Assembly buildings.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The 49-year-old \u2013 who was represented by advocate Dali Mpofu \u2013 also faces charges of housebreaking with intent to steal and theft, two counts of arson and possession of an explosive device.<\/p>\n
After the State sent Mafe for psychiatric evaluation, it was found that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.<\/p>\n
The State made an application for Mafe to undergo a 30-day observation period at Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital to determine whether he is fit to stand trial.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cThe court is making that order that the accused be admitted to a mental institution for the purpose of observation,\u201d Mbalo said.<\/p>\n
<\/video><\/p>\nVideo: Phando Jikelo\/African News Agency (ANA)<\/strong><\/p>\nSpeaking to journalists outside court, National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the State was \u201cnot interested in ambushing anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cOur focus is, and will always be, on providing and ensuring that charges are brought against the accused in a manner that is fair to the accused himself, and to us.<\/p>\n\u201cWe did not intend to ambush the accused with that letter. The fact of the matter is that the accused was sent for observation and the observation came back saying the accused is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia,\u201d Ntabazalila said.<\/p>\nLuvuyo Godla, who forms part of the defence team, said the application to refer Mafe to Valkenberg came as a shock. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cIt was a surprise to ourselves. We were very shocked. We have noted that he was referred on the 3rd of this month \u2026 At that stage he was not legally represented.\u201d<\/p>\nIn proceedings earlier in the day, Mpofu stated that the defence were left surprised on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\nLast week, during his first court appearance, Godla, said his client was not the person who was supposed to be apprehended. Furthermore, he added that Mafe denies and rejects the charges and therefore he will plead not guilty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThe Hawks are investigating the circumstances around the two-day fire, which started last week.<\/p>\n[email protected]<\/p>\nPolitical Bureau<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Town – Parliament fire accused Zandile Mafe will undergo a mental evaluation for the next 30 days, as ordered by Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo. On Tuesday, during his second appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate\u2019s Court, Mafe heard that he faces an additional terrorism charge in connection with the blaze which gutted the National Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Video: Phando Jikelo\/African News Agency (ANA)<\/strong><\/p>\nSpeaking to journalists outside court, National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the State was \u201cnot interested in ambushing anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cOur focus is, and will always be, on providing and ensuring that charges are brought against the accused in a manner that is fair to the accused himself, and to us.<\/p>\n\u201cWe did not intend to ambush the accused with that letter. The fact of the matter is that the accused was sent for observation and the observation came back saying the accused is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia,\u201d Ntabazalila said.<\/p>\nLuvuyo Godla, who forms part of the defence team, said the application to refer Mafe to Valkenberg came as a shock. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\u201cIt was a surprise to ourselves. We were very shocked. We have noted that he was referred on the 3rd of this month \u2026 At that stage he was not legally represented.\u201d<\/p>\nIn proceedings earlier in the day, Mpofu stated that the defence were left surprised on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\nLast week, during his first court appearance, Godla, said his client was not the person who was supposed to be apprehended. Furthermore, he added that Mafe denies and rejects the charges and therefore he will plead not guilty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\nThe Hawks are investigating the circumstances around the two-day fire, which started last week.<\/p>\n[email protected]<\/p>\nPolitical Bureau<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Town – Parliament fire accused Zandile Mafe will undergo a mental evaluation for the next 30 days, as ordered by Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo. On Tuesday, during his second appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate\u2019s Court, Mafe heard that he faces an additional terrorism charge in connection with the blaze which gutted the National Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Speaking to journalists outside court, National Prosecuting Authority in the Western Cape spokesperson Eric Ntabazalila said the State was \u201cnot interested in ambushing anyone\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cOur focus is, and will always be, on providing and ensuring that charges are brought against the accused in a manner that is fair to the accused himself, and to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did not intend to ambush the accused with that letter. The fact of the matter is that the accused was sent for observation and the observation came back saying the accused is suffering from paranoid schizophrenia,\u201d Ntabazalila said.<\/p>\n
Luvuyo Godla, who forms part of the defence team, said the application to refer Mafe to Valkenberg came as a shock. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u201cIt was a surprise to ourselves. We were very shocked. We have noted that he was referred on the 3rd of this month \u2026 At that stage he was not legally represented.\u201d<\/p>\n
In proceedings earlier in the day, Mpofu stated that the defence were left surprised on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
Last week, during his first court appearance, Godla, said his client was not the person who was supposed to be apprehended. Furthermore, he added that Mafe denies and rejects the charges and therefore he will plead not guilty.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
The Hawks are investigating the circumstances around the two-day fire, which started last week.<\/p>\n
[email protected]<\/p>\n
Political Bureau<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cape Town – Parliament fire accused Zandile Mafe will undergo a mental evaluation for the next 30 days, as ordered by Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo. On Tuesday, during his second appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate\u2019s Court, Mafe heard that he faces an additional terrorism charge in connection with the blaze which gutted the National Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Cape Town – Parliament fire accused Zandile Mafe will undergo a mental evaluation for the next 30 days, as ordered by Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo. On Tuesday, during his second appearance at the Cape Town Magistrate\u2019s Court, Mafe heard that he faces an additional terrorism charge in connection with the blaze which gutted the National Assembly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-915342","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=915342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/915342\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=915342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=915342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=915342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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