Durban — Controversial political activist Jackie Shandu says the State is wasting its time and government resources by proceeding with charges against him.
Shandu, who allegedly made remarks with racial undertones to a gathering outside the Durban City Hall, appeared in the Durban Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
The trial was adjourned to July 19 after the prosecutor, N Manqele, asked for an extended time to go over presentations that were submitted by Shandu’s lawyer, advocate ZM Xulu, on Tuesday afternoon.
Shandu said that he could not wait for the trial to start.
“The sooner the trial starts, the better because we have always been prepared. There is no case. We do not even know what is the case.
“They are wasting our time and we do not have time to waste. I am not a murderer or a criminal,” said Shandu.
He said the court should focus on bringing justice to vulnerable victims who were victimised during the July 2021 unrest.
Shandu said that he long retracted the “one bullet, one Indian” statement that he allegedly made.
“That statement was retracted even though they could think about coming and pressing useless charges, we really do not know what their issue is. As far as we are concerned there is no tangible issue here and there is no case to even begin with.
“The statement was made and it cannot be taken in isolation because it was a statement within a context of a presentation. So this obsession with a phrase in the context of a broad and very comprehensive speech is exactly something that we are going to deal with when they bring the matter to us,” said Shandu.
He said he was happy that the trial was getting closer and would soon be put to bed.
Prosecutor Manqele said the trial was adjourned because the presentation that was supposed to be presented in the second week of May by the accused’s lawyer was delayed. Manqele said she received it on Tuesday via email and needed more time to respond to the presentation.
Xulu said that the reason for the delay was that he was uncertain as to which prosecutor he should submit them to. Xulu said there was a different prosecutor at the previous court appearance. He said he only discovered on Tuesday afternoon that he was supposed to submit the presentation to Manqele.
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