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Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe loses appeal challenging decision to deny him bail

Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe loses appeal challenging decision to deny him bail
Firefighters battle the blaze that engulfed the National Assembly in Parliament on 3 January 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Leila Dougan)
Vincent Cruywagen
By Vincent Cruywagen
10 Oct 2022
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Suspected Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe’s bid for freedom has gone up in flames.

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has dismissed suspected Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe’s application challenging the Cape Town Regional Court’s decision to deny him bail in February.

Advocate Luvuyo Godla, representing Mafe, told Daily Maverick: “I can confirm that the SCA has dismissed the appeal. We are currently strategising.”

The decision by the SCA — concurring with the ruling handed down on 4 February by Cape Town Regional Court magistrate Michelle Adams denying Mafe bail — diminishes his chances of another court coming to a different conclusion. Mafe’s last step is to file an application at the Constitutional Court

In dismissing Mafe’s application to be released on bail, Adams said: “The court … finds that Mafe did not satisfy the court that exceptional circumstances exist which in the interest of justice permitted his release.”

Firefighters battle the blaze that engulfed the National Assembly in Parliament on 3 January 2022 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo: Leila Dougan)





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Mafe’s pro bono legal representative, Advocate Dali Mpofu, then took the matter on appeal to the Western Cape High Court.  

But in May, two of three judges sitting in the Western Cape High Court ruled that he would not be granted bail. The court ruled that the nature of the offences and the circumstances under which they were committed induced a sense of shock and outrage. 

Following the unsuccessful bid at the Western Cape High Court, Mafe’s legal team took the matter on appeal to the SCA.

Mafe ended up behind bars on the morning of the fire on 2 January after he was arrested while leaving the burning parliamentary precinct. The fire gutted part of the Old Assembly as well as the new National Assembly.

Video evidence, on which a trial court still has to make a ruling, allegedly shows Mafe walking the corridors of Parliament and dousing the Old Assembly and New Assembly buildings with petrol before setting them alight. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: “The curious case of Zandile Mafe and the ghost of Dimitri Tsafendas” 

Mafe faces charges of terrorism, arson, housebreaking, theft and possession of explosives.

He is expected in court for pre-trial purposes on 4 November. DM

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