The NPA provincial spokesperson, Phaladi Shuping, on Tuesday outside the Bloemfontein Regional Court told OFM News that the delays won’t have any bearing in the matter, citing enough evidence against McKenzie Ratselane, who is facing multiple charges.

He says the day’s postponement was to allow the defence of the accused to iron out issues of concern with the state after his new legal counsel requested a postponement. Phaladi says the state was hoping for a possible plea but the disagreement between the defence and state in the matter against McKenzie cannot be finalised as yet until an agreement. The Magistrate postponed the case to Wednesday 19 May 2021 to allow time for negotiations between the two parties.

“As you are aware there was a possibility [of a plea] so when he changed his plea we [then] told the court that we are ready for trial. So we don’t know what is it that he is going to bring to the table on the 19th so we just have to wait for the plea. We understand the frustration of the family of the complainant and the community at large, considering that they wanted this matter to be finalised as soon as possible and that’s what we also wanted,” he adds.

The counsel informed the Regional Court that McKenzie wants to plead guilty to charges of assault, kidnapping, the illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and not to that of attempted murder.

They argued that if McKenzie wanted to kill Dimakatso, he could have done so as he had a firearm in his vehicle when he stabbed her multiple times with a knife in Bloemfontein in February. McKenzie made his first appearance in courtroom 16 after his matter was previously postponed for a possible plea deal.

It is alleged that McKenzie would have pled guilty on Tuesday on charges, including attempted murder, assault, and kidnapping, amongst others. His new counsel, however, said McKenzie would like to make a deal with the state to drop the attempted murder charge.

Members of the EFF and ANC gathered outside the court in Bloemfontein in support of Dimakatso. Women from these two political parties have been protesting against the suspect since his arrest in February this year.

They want the latter, who allegedly stabbed Dimakatso multiple times in Bloemfontein, to receive a harsher sentence if found guilty of the crime.

OFM News/Lucky Nkuyane and Kekeletso Mosebetsi