The rape case against Patrick Sindane, the national organiser of the EFF, has been pushed back to August for the trial date to be set.
Sindane appeared briefly at the Johannesburg magistrate’s court on Monday regarding a December 2021 rape charge.
A member of the EFF Student Command opened the case at the Johannesburg Central police station in 2021.
It was opened at the Hillbrow police station before being transferred to the Johannesburg Central police station for further investigation.
Out on bail
Sindane, who appeared in court on Monday dressed in a blue and white suit, is currently out on bail.
State prosecutor Cylus Phooko asked magistrate Betty Khumalo to postpone the matter because the state prosecutor assigned to the case and the witness in the matter were not present in court.
Sindane’s lawyer, Andries Nkome, did not object to Phooko’s request. Khumalo postponed the matter to August 6 for a trial date to be set.
Prior to resigning from the National Assembly in December 2021 over allegations of rape, Sindane served as the EFF’s member of the Gauteng provincial legislature from 2014 to 2019.
Involvement in alleged gang-rape
There have been prior encounters between Sindane and the law.
In 2008, when Sindane was a member of the Anti-Privatisation Forum (APF), he was accused with two other party members of involvement in gang rape.
In April 2009, when he was suspended, the APF issued a statement in which it explained that he had been taken into custody and accused of participating in the “gang rape” of a sex worker.
His alleged accomplice later became a state witness.
The Sebokeng magistrate’s court heard the case, but after it appeared as though the sex worker who had filed the charges had vanished, the charges were dropped.
In 2018, the EFF in Gauteng suspended Sindane on allegations that he assaulted his girlfriend and mother of his child at an “after-tears” party in Orlando, Soweto.
Lebo Mogoasa, the girlfriend, refuted the claims that Sindane had abused her.
