A call has been made to Northern Cape leaders to intervene and support the community’s call that bail be denied to the man accused of raping and murdering 11-year-old Relebogile Segami, after the case was postponed until Thursday for bail application.
A CALL was made to Northern Cape leaders to intervene and support the community’s call that bail be denied to the man accused of raping and murdering 11-year-old Relebogile Segami, after the case was postponed until Thursday for bail application.
The accused, Itumeleng Machabe, made a brief appearance in the Galeshewe Magistrate’s Court for the third time this month on Monday. His bail appearance was postponed until Thursday.
The bail application was previously postponed until Friday, September 23.
This is after the State requested a postponement of the bail hearing in order for the case to be referred to the Northern Cape High Court due to it being a high-profile case.
On Monday, the defence made its intentions to apply for bail clear to the court.
Members of the community were meanwhile unhappy about the postponement and accused the justice system of using delaying tactics in order to set the accused free.
A community representative, Herbert Miller, expressed unhappiness about the manner in which the proceedings are being processed and said the court was “clearly just waiting for the community to calm down”.
Miller said they intend to picket outside the court again on Thursday and to continue with their original plan to submit a petition calling for bail to be denied.
He added that it is time for Northern Cape Premier Dr Zamani Saul and Sol Plaatje executive mayor Kagisho Sonyoni to intervene and show more support to the bereaved family.
“The court is taking advantage of the fact that the number of community members decreased in court,” said Miller.
“We never submitted our previous petitions because there was no longer any mention of bail anymore. Everyone was rather concentrating on the delayed DNA results and the implementation of Section 342A.”
Miller emphasised that it is time for the premier, mayor and all political parties and organisations to come to the party and fight gender-based violence instead of only “preaching about it”.
