July 2021 riots 'instigators' to be charged under Terrorism Act

The case against suspected July 2021 unrest instigators has been postponed to November after the state indicated it wants to add a terrorism charge.

The suspects, now 65 in total, are alleged to have co-ordinated the looting in July 2021 through a WhatsApp group called “FreeZumaCoordinators”.

They were arrested from August 2022 and initially charged with conspiracy to commit public violence, incitement to commit public violence and incitement to commit arson.

During their last court appearance in December 2022, the matter was postponed when the state said it wanted to add charges related to the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorist and Related Activities Act.

When they appeared in the Durban regional court on Friday, the state again asked for the matter to be remanded to later in the year to prepare indictments for a possible terrorism charge.

“The state requires more time. The prosecutor had advised the state was ready to proceed to trial, but after accessing the information on the devices taken away from the accused persons the state found grounds to bring possible terrorism charges against them,” said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara.

For terrorism charges to be granted against the accused, the NPA in KwaZulu-Natal must make an application to the National Director of Public Prosecutions.

“It’s for this reason we ask for the remand so this process can begin. The state put on record and gave assurances it will have an indictment against the 65 accused and will be ready to proceed further,” said Ramkisson-Kara.

After the defence brought their arguments in opposition to the postponement, magistrate Anand Maharaj granted the remand and the case was adjourned to November 17.

The accused are out on bail and warnings.

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