An urgent
application for the presiding officer to recuse himself from the trial of three
members of the Public Assets and Community Based Tenants and Owners Association
(PACTOA), has delayed their bail application.
The trio
made their second court appearance before the Mthatha Magistrate’s Court on October 13, for what was supposed to be a formal bail application. But one of the accused, Zamikhaya Songca, brought an application for the
presiding Magistrate, Mthuthuzeli Mnge, to recuse himself citing his proximity to
his family.
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Songca’s co
accused are Bongani Cikolo and Sicelo Nkqayi.
They are
facing charges of fraud, alternatively theft in connection with the alleged invasion
and forceful eviction of tenants from eleven properties belonging to the
Eastern Cape Development Corporation in Mthatha in 2017. It is further alleged that the association claimed monthly rentals from tenants of the invaded properties for their personal use.
Songca, in
his affidavit, had argued that his relative was a sister-in-law to the
presiding magistrate and there were many members of the Songca family that
Magistrate Mnge was close to.
In
dismissing the recusal application, Mnge said he did not know the accused and
he was seeing him for the first time in court. He further said he had no
knowledge of the applicant’s relative he claimed to be his sister-in-law.
“The law
says there must be a direct or indirect link between the presiding magistrate
and the applicant for recusal to be granted. There is no link between me and
the applicant. The application by the applicant is based on whimsical and
morbid ground and is thus refused,” Mnge ruled.
The court
has scheduled the formal bail application for October 19, 20 and provisionally
21.
