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Alleged parliament arsonist en-route to EC for mental observation

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Suspected parliament arsonist, Zandile Mafe, will be sent to a hospital in the Eastern Cape for mental observation.

Mafe appeared in the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town on Friday after previous attempts for the pre-trial hearing to commence were marred with delays.

Previously, he had refused to go to court by lying on the cell floor unless he was provided with comfort items.

The 50-year-old has been in custody for more than a year, facing charges including arson and terrorism for the inferno that gutted the national assembly chamber last year January.

Parliament previously said that the process of fully restoring the buildings gutted by the devastating fire will cost up to R2 billion as the blaze caused extensive damage to the Old Assembly and the National Assembly wings.

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson, Eric Ntabazalila says the case has been postponed until 28 March.

He says the postponement is to allow the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI) to finalise logistical arrangements for him to be admitted to a hospital in the Eastern Cape for mental observation.

In January last year, Judge John Hlope, overturned an order referring him to Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital for 30 days of mental observation.

Hlophe, who was sitting with an assessor, ordered that Mafe be released immediately from Valkenberg Hospital and moved to a Correctional Centre pending a bail hearing.

Mafe had been admitted to Valkenberg following an order by Magistrate Zamekile Mbalo based on a provisional diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia by a district surgeon.

ALSO READ : Man accused of Parliament fire refuses to go to court - again