Judge Sophia Steyn on Friday issued arrest warrants for two people accused of instigating the 2021 July riots.
The warrants were for accused 22 Sibusiso Blessing Gwala and accused 29 Jabulani Cele who were not in court. Twenty of the accused had been expected to appear on Friday to resolve issues with legal representation.4
The Durban High Court does not have a courtroom large enough to accommodate all the accused ‒ 63 people ‒ so proceedings have been moved to the Durban Magistrate’s Court. The matter has been ongoing for three years.
State prosecutor advocate Mahen Naidu placed it on record that accused 35, Fikile Majozi, had died. “I have her death certificate in my possession,” he said.
The State alleges that the accused were dissatisfied with the Constitutional Court’s decision to sentence former president Jacob Zuma to 15 months in prison.
The pre-trial hearings had been scheduled to take place in September. Friday proceedings were to resolve some of the accused’s legal representation, because some had to make appeals to be represented by Legal Aid.
Legal Aid attorney Pregasen Marimuthu told the court that the accused who had been granted legal representation would be allocated their counsel in five days. He said each counsel would be given five accused to represent.
He said they would not be appointed through the normal system to prevent counsels from withdrawing, a decision he said was made at national level. Twelve of the accused were granted legal services by Legal Aid, while five were refused for reasons that include failing to submit required documentation, refusing to comply with Legal Aid procedures, and failing to disclose their assets.
Accused 10 Malibongwe Kubheka told the court he had just learned he had to contribute to his Legal Aid costs and he refused to do so.
“I just got the message that my Legal Aid application has been granted. I’m not going to pay, I’d rather represent myself,” said Kubheka.
While his fellow accused burst into laughter, Steyn said the court noted that he did not want to comply with the Legal Aid conditions. During the proceedings, the accused appeared jovial and some made jokes when they stood up as Steyn directed so that they could say whether they had legal representation or not.
Others raised their hands to ask to go to the toilet: Steyn would allow them to leave, but reminded them to return. If they had been granted Legal Aid, Marimuthu explained the status of their application. Four of the accused have hired private legal services.
Accused 44 Vuyo Mayekiso asked Steyn as she was about to adjourn the matter if, on their next court appearance, the pre-trial would continue. He told the judge that the matter had been going on for three years now. Mayekiso was refused Legal Aid because he did not submit his financials. Steyn told him the matter would move forward once every accused had either a private or legal Aid representative or they would represent themselves.
The matter was postponed to December 10 for pre-trail hearings and all the accused would be in court. Among the eight charges the accused face are terrorism, conspiring the commission of terrorism, sedition, public violence, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to commit public violence and incitement to commit public violence.