Central SA
AfriForum appeals Thandi Modise’s acquittal─── 07:46 Sat, 18 Mar 2023
AfriForum’s Private Prosecution Unit has approached the High Court in Mahikeng to get an order to "compel a magistrate to do his job".
The unit was in the court on Friday to appeal the acquittal of former speaker of parliament Thandi Modise on charges of animal cruelty.
The matter could not be heard because Magistrate Ben Mtebele failed to state his case and formulate a question of law – he did not provide reasons on whether he correctly applied the law when acquitting Modise.
The unit acts on behalf of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (NSPCA) who is privately prosecuting Modise, which was the Speaker of Parliament at the time and is currently the Minister of Defence, on charges of cruelty to animals.
Modise was charged with six counts of animal cruelty relating to dozens of animals that died or were emaciated on her farm in North West in 2014 while she was the province's premier.
Mtebele found Modise not guilty on 30 April 2021 after filing an application for a discharge in terms of Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act.
The Unit’s spokesperson Barry Bateman says that after repeated requests for the magistrate to provide reasons, the High Court indicated that without the magistrate doing his job, it cannot hear the appeal.
