News24 | Parliament fire: 'I found coffee, everything there,' claims arson accused

Alleged Parliament arsonist Zandile Mafe gestures during an inquiry into his fitness to stand trial at Western Cape Town High Court on 2 November 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. Mafe is facing charges of arson, theft, housebreaking and contravention of the National Key Points Act in connection with the fire at the Cape Town Parliament in January 2022. (Photo by Gallo Images/Brenton Geach)

The psychiatrists' report recommending that Zandile Mafe is not mentally well enough to defend himself during his terrorism and arson trial, and should instead be admitted for psychiatric treatment was trashed as inadequate and cryptic by his counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, on Thursday. 

"Your report, to put it bluntly, tells us nothing," said Mpofu to the court-appointed psychiatrist Dr Thupana Seshoka, who led the assessment of Mafe's capacity to stand trial.

Mpofu objected to Seshoka's to-the-point explanation that the panel's diagnosis was schizophrenia, complaining that it contained no detail on how the panel came to this conclusion.

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