File
The man accused of setting Parliament on fire earlier this month has launched an urgent bail application almost two weeks after his high-profile arrest.
Zandile Mafe is accused of solely bringing the National Assembly and Old Assembly buildings down in a fire that ripped through parts of the precinct on January 2 and faces several charges, including terrorism.
The Black People’s National Crisis Committee, a lobby group, has joined quarters that believe Mafe is being made a scapegoat.
“He did not burn Parliament. The perpetrator is still out there. What kind of interest would take Zandile from the streets of Khayelitsha to go and burn Parliament?” says the group's Mbulelo Dwane.
He says he suspects a sinister, political force is at play.
“Personally, as I’m sitting here I don’t trust anything that comes from the ANC, even worse the State.”
The lobby group is expected to picket outside the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Saturday when Mafe’s bail application is heard.
Mafe is currently on a hunger strike after the state brought new evidence, claiming he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.
- Jacaranda FM
