“Get your ducks in a row” was the stern warning to police from a magistrate on Wednesday, when a biker was due to appear in court for the alleged assault of a woman motorist.
The case hit a previous snag when it emerged that an identity (ID) parade had still not been held due to technical issues.
The biker, who faces provisional charges of attempted murder and malicious damage to property in relation to an alleged road-rage incident on June 25, cannot be named until a formal ID parade has been held.
It has now been more than a month since the man’s first appearance in the Gqeberha magistrate’s court.
The 29-year-old Walmer man, a member of the Crusaders Motorcycle Club, is accused of assaulting Zintle Msindwana, 35, in retaliation after she apparently hit another biker with her motor vehicle on Circular Drive.
The man was released on R2,000 bail on July 4, with the magistrate ordering that his identity be withheld pending the outcome of the ID parade.
The assault was caught on camera.
On Wednesday, as more than 50 ANC members picketed outside the building, the court heard that the ID parade scheduled for August 12 could not proceed because the police photographer’s memory card was full.
Defence attorney Ryno Scholtz said he had then suggested that his client’s photograph be taken, but there was not enough storage space on the camera for that.
This led to the parade being cancelled.
The accused was not in court on Wednesday after the state and defence agreed that it would be in the interests of justice for him not to attend the hearing until all the formalities had been finalised.
Magistrate Abigail Beeton postponed the case to August 30, warning the prosecutor that this was the “first and last time” an ID parade was not properly conducted by the police.
Nelson Mandela Bay ANC regional chair Babalwa Lobishe, Bay ANC regional youth league chair Siviwe Ngaba and regional women’s league co-ordinator Thuthukile Zuma led the picket in support of Msindwana.
Zuma, the daughter of former president Jacob Zuma, said they wanted to make their presence known so that the court would know they were carefully watching the case, and they did not want any preferential treatment towards the accused.
“As we speak today it is Women’s Month. Msindwana is a young, black woman.
“We live in the most unequal society in the world.
“We also live in a highly patriarchal society where women and children live in fear,” Zuma said.
In the video filmed with her cellphone, Msindwana can be heard sobbing while a heavyset man dressed in a leather jacket uses derogatory language as he approaches her vehicle.
She is warned to stop filming and asked “do you want to die?”.
The phone is seemingly knocked out of her hand, followed by what sounds like someone being assaulted.
Msindwana’s brother, Aluwani Pandelani, said her health was improving, though she still needed weekly visits to the doctor for the injuries to her right leg.
“Her second operation was in July. The doctor estimated that she would need another three to four months of healing, but the trauma is still there.
“We have observed that she wants her own space and she is scared to be in a car.
“There is a lot that has changed from the experience. She also needs counselling,” he said.
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