The son of former Cape Town mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo, Onele Mfeketo, was on Friday let off the hook on a shoplifting charge in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
The charge was withdrawn because a security guard did not turn up to testify in his trial.
The missing security guard, Wiseman Sophoyi, would have been the state’s only witness to the incident, but he was nowhere to be found.
Prosecutor Thembela Yawa asked magistrate Menzi Tyulu for a postponement, and explained that the protracted security-guard strike had caused complications.
He said the strike had finally ended, and Sophoyi was supposed to have reported to his employer for duty on Friday, but had not.
The request for a postponement was opposed by defence attorney William da Grass, who said Friday’s appearance was Mfeketo’s sixth, and because he had moved to Johannesburg, each trip to Cape Town for the case cost him a return air ticket.
Da Grass said the charge should be withdrawn in the circumstances, but Yawa refused to do this, and the defence demanded that the case be struck from the roll — which would have the same effect as a withdrawal.
Da Grass lamented the cruel publicity the case had attracted, due to the fact that, at the time of the alleged theft, Mfeketo’s mother held the high-profile post of mayor in the City of Cape Town.
At Da Grass’s request, Tyulu struck the case from the roll, which means it can only be reinstated with the written consent of the Western Cape directorate of public prosecutions. — Sapa