The Western Cape High Court is expected to decide on parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe’s fate on Friday after he was declared unfit to stand trial.
Mafe has been in police custody since his arrest in January 2022 for setting the National Assembly chambers on fire. He faces charges of arson, terrorism, and theft.
Early in 2023, he was booked for a psychiatric appraisal at Fort England Psychiatric Hospital in Eastern Cape after he refused to be admitted to Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town.
The long-awaited medical report on Mafe’s state of sanity, resulting from an independent psychiatric assessment requested by his defence counsel, was presented in August with a conclusion that he is not fit to account for his crimes.
Reading parts of the psychiatric report, presiding judge Nathan Erasmus stated that Mafe was found unfit to stand trial.
“The accused is unable to follow court proceedings to make a proper defence,” said Erasmus.
“At the time of the alleged offence, the accused was unable to appreciate the wrongfulness of the act in question.”
Mafe has not yet been found guilty by any court of law, however, he has since admitted to the crime.
In a dramatic turn of events at the high court in Western Cape in July, Mafe went on a rant and admitted to burning down the National Assembly chambers.
He expressed frustration with service delivery and loadshedding. He also claimed responsibility for burning the chambers and threatened to orchestrate more acts of arson if parliament is not relocated.
“I burnt it intentionally, me Christmas Zandile Mafe. I am going to arrange more [attacks] if it does not move to Bloemfontein or Pretoria,” he lashed out.
“The service-delivery protests which are occurring outside are about my release. Last year, service-delivery protests occurred 5 000 times, and most of them were violent.
“Loadshedding occurred 2 900 hours last year, loadshedding occurred 207 days last year. Loadshedding occurred 177 times, I want this parliament to the majority of the people.”
During the proceedings on Friday, the court is expected to hear about Mafe’s mental state from a psychiatrist and also listen to arguments on how to proceed with the case.
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