The state prosecutor at the Thohoyandou Magistrate's Court, Ms Mashudu Nekhumbe, said that for the court to wait for hours for legal representatives who arrived late for their clients' hearings was unacceptable. This was after one of the accused in the SAMWU murder trial, Percy Radzuma, and his legal representative, Advocate Tshifhiwa Matodzi, arrived nearly three-and-a-half hours late for Radzuma's bail hearing, which was set for 08:30 on Monday, 21 February.
"This court will not allow any delay tactics by the accused's legal representative," Nekhumbe said before the hearing for Radzuma's bail application proceeded. Radzuma applied for bail for the second time, this time based on "new facts" in evidence. His first application for bail was denied in December last year, before Matodzi was appointed as Radzuma's new legal representative.
Radzuma and three others - Simon Radzuma, Ndivhuwo Radzuma and Thabo Sibanze – were charged with the murder of SAMWU members Ronald Mani and Timpson Musetsho in 2019.
Matodzi argued that his client had the right to a fair trial and presented the court with a list of reasons why bail should be granted. He said that Radzuma had fallen and broken his left leg when he had gone to the toilet in his prison cell at Thohoyandou Correctional Centre (formerly called Matatshe), and was now walking on crutches. He said his client needed to consult a traditional healer to help cure the leg. He also argued that Radzuma's father was in poor health, suffering from chronic diseases, and depended on his son's help. Matodzi also told the court that his client's former girlfriend, with whom he had a child, had married another man and apparently abandoned his child. Radzuma now needed to take care of the child.
Judge Rendani Netshiunda postponed the bail hearing to 28 February, starting at 14:00. Radzuma is to appear first with the other three co-accused on the morning of that same day.
Speaking outside the court, the representative of both the Musetsho and Mani families, Ms Rabelani Mphaphuli, said that the delay tactics used by Matodzi were disturbing, while the families just wanted the case to be finalised. She also said that Matodzi's argument about his client's health condition was ridiculous, when the families of the murdered victims had suffered the consequences while their children now headed their families and lived without parental care.