A grandson of former president Nelson Mandela appeared in the Johannesburg court on Tuesday morning for a formal bail application.
The 24 year old Mbuso Mandela is accused of raping a 15 year old girl in a toilet of a restaurant in Greenside, Johannesburg, two weeks ago.
Magistrate Pieter Du Plessis took some time to read the evidence contained in the documents, also stating that Mandela had a pending case against him from earlier in the year.
In his affidavit, Mandela claimed he had consensual sex with the complainant, whose age was called into question during Friday’s proceedings.
The attorney told the court her Facebook page indicated that she was born in 1999, and that the complainant had told the waiter at the restaurant where the alleged rape took place that she was 18 years old.
Du Plessis responded that many things posted on Facebook were not true, and requested that the identity book of the complainant be brought to court on Tuesday. Her age may result in the changing of the schedule offence Mandela would face.
Mandela is currently facing a schedule six offence, which meant the onus fell on him to persuade the court to grant him bail.
Mbuso also told the court that he was unemployed and had no assests of his own. He asked the court to treat him like a normal human being and not like a Mandela.
The alleged rape took place on August 7, in the bathroom of a restaurant in Greenside, in Johannesburg’s northern suburbs. The complainant alleges Mandela followed her to the bathroom and raped her.
