“I did burn parliament”: Zandile Mafe causes drama in court
High drama broke out in the Western Cape High Court on Thursday morning when Parliament arson suspect Zandile Mafe shouted: “I did burn Parliament,” as he entered the dock.
His pre-trial appearance was meant to provide feedback on a second psychiatric assessment that he underwent after the first, which concluded that he had schizophrenia, was declared unlawful.
“You must take it into Bloemfontein, that Parliament, or Pretoria. It must move. It must relocated. I burnt it intentionally. Me, Christmas Zandile Mafe. I’m going to burn it more if it doesn’t move to Bloemfontein or Pretoria,” he said.
He also called the DA “racists” and “murderers”, saying the party should not be represented in Parliament.
In addition, he had an anti-white and anti-Semitic rant in the dock.
“I don’t want whites in this land. They must bring back land to black people. Whites are murders. Whites are killers.”
He added that Parliament should be turned into a toilet.
Advocate Dali Mpofu, SC, represented him via a broken video link. In court, advocate Nikiwe Nyathi said the defence wanted a six-week postponement to get their own, independent psychiatric report.
Judge Nathan Erasmus said he did not want to interrupt Mafe’s outburst on purpose.
“I know Mr Mafe’s medical condition and I don’t want to exacerbate it,” he said.
But he adjourned briefly when Mafe would not stop shouting.
Mafe also told the court to give him a “life sentence of 25 years”.
“I’m not afraid of a life sentence,” he said.
“I’m not scared of a life sentence.”
