The man charged over torching Parliament was unable to appreciate the wrongdoings of the act and could not follow court proceedings in order to make a proper defence.
This emerged in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday when Zandile Mafe appeared before Judge Nathan Erasmus.
The proceedings got off to a rough start when Mafe delivered verbal outburst, with threats to burn Parliament “even more”.
“I burnt it intentionally. Me, Christmas Zandile Mafe, I will burn it even more if it does not move to Bloemfontein or Pretoria. The service (delivery) protest which is happening outside is about my release. It must move from the racist right-wing DA. The DA must not be in the Parliament,” said Mafe.
Judge Erasmus highlighted his concern over Mafe being detained and questioned the humaneness of keeping him at a correctional facility over a long period in light of his medical report which was completed during a 30-day psychiatric evaluation at Fort England Psychiatric Hospital in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape.
The findings of the report stated that Mafe was “unable to follow court proceedings as to make a proper defence” and “at the time of the alleged offence the accused was unable to appreciate the wrongdoings of the act in question and unable to act in accordance with such appreciation”.
“These findings were made as a result of a diagnosis of a mental illness,” Judge Erasmus read into the record.
Judge Erasmus, not disclosing the diagnosis of Mafe’s mental evaluation, said he had previously placed a bar on the psychiatric evaluation report to indulge Mafe’s legal team – including advocate Dali Mpofu SC – for consultation.
However, he lifted the restriction during Thursday’s court appearance at his discretion.
ICYMI: Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe threatens to burn the house again if they don't move it to Bloemfontein. Video: @ChevonBooysen https://t.co/6v25eDBGcx pic.twitter.com/enxIKDRv3s
— Cape Times (@CapeTimesSA) July 14, 2023
Judge Erasmus also gave reasons why he had indulged the request to have Mafe referred and evaluated outside the province instead of at Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town, even though the court was “criticised” for doing so.
He said Mafe had “jumped the queue” with the referral to Fort England as the waiting list for awaiting-trial prisoners to undergo psychiatric evaluation at Valkenberg Hospital was extensive and would have caused further delays, subjecting him to being detained at a correctional facility in spite of this not being in his best interest.
After the outburst and two short adjournments, Judge Erasmus said he had “deliberately not interrupted” Mafe as he was aware of his medical situation and “did not want to further exacerbate it”.
He ordered that Mafe not be held within the general population of a prison or any correctional facility which had the capacity to detain him at this time so that he was “provided with the health care and services he needs”.
Mafe’s defence team intends to appoint a forensic psychiatrist and will thereafter decide if it will dispute the findings of the Fort England medical report.
State advocate Mervyn Menigo expressed his concern that the matter had been in court since August last year for Mafe’s pre-trial, which resulted in an “inordinate delay”. He further requested the court to “interrogate the request for a psychiatrist as this option was made available to the defence previously”.
He said they were concerned that they were “dealing with a person inhumanely”.
Mpofu told the court that they were not able to appoint a forensic psychiatrist yet as “the situation is dire” and it seemed there was “reluctance” by professionals they had approached.
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila, said: “We hope that going forward as the defence requested, for them to consult further with Mafe and a psychiatrist of their own that will come up with a report that will provide a way forward in this case.
“It is not in the interest of justice for us to keep him this long and we need to have movement in this case,” said Ntabazalila.
The court granted a final postponement to the defence team for them to indicate whether they would dispute the findings.
The case was postponed to August 10.
Cape Times