The senior manager at the Cape Town Metro Council, who is charged with the rape of a 13-year-old girl, was postponed to 30 July in the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrate’s Court on Monday.
The court heard that the 54-year-old man, a former Umkhonto we Sizwe commander (MK) on the Cape Flats, is going to appoint a new legal representative for him.
Eric Ntabazalila, Western Cape spokeswoman for the National Prosecuting Authority, says the man will then apply for bail.
However, the state will oppose bail, ”says Ntabazalila.
The man is facing a charge of repeatedly raping the girl at her parents’ home and other places over a period of three years.
The man is apparently a relative of the complainant.
His name may not be mentioned to protect the girl’s identity.
Several men and women and members of MK’s Veterans Association protested Monday before the Mitchell’s Plain Magistrate’s Court asking that bail be not granted to the man and other men who are guilty of sexual violence against women and children.
The man was involved in the incident in December 1989 in which a sticking mine was placed at Mitchell’s Plain Police Station.
He was arrested last weekend and was detained at Strandfontein police station until Monday.
A community organization in Mitchell’s Plain involving the man – Unchain the Plain – also distanced themselves from the man last Monday and removed all photos he was from on their Facebook page.
He is an executive member of the organization.
Mark Skriker of Unchain the Plain said in a statement that they received information that one of their members had been arrested for raping a minor. They held an emergency meeting on Sunday evening and decided to suspend the man immediately until the court case was finalized.
