{"id":232052,"date":"2022-07-22T05:56:08","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T03:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/murder-victims-friend-storms-out-of-khayelitsha-court-as-case-is-postponed-for-sixth-time-since-may\/"},"modified":"2022-07-22T05:56:08","modified_gmt":"2022-07-22T03:56:08","slug":"murder-victims-friend-storms-out-of-khayelitsha-court-as-case-is-postponed-yet-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/murder-victims-friend-storms-out-of-khayelitsha-court-as-case-is-postponed-yet-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Murder victim\u2019s friend storms out of Khayelitsha court as case is postponed yet again"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The case against Bongani Ngadleka was postponed for the sixth time since May 2022. He is on trial for the murder of Phelokazi Mqathanya, who was lesbian, on 2 May in 2021. Mqathanya\u2019s family and activists believe her murder was a hate crime. Archive photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana<\/p>\n

Lesbian rights movement Free Gender will demand answers from senior prosecuting staff at Khayelitsha Magistrates Court if the case against Bongani Ngadleka is postponed next week.<\/p>\n

Ngadleka is accused of stabbing Phelokazi Mqathanya to death on 2 May 2021. Mqathanya, who lived in Site C, was lesbian and her family and LGBT+ activists believe her murder was a hate crime.<\/p>\n

He was arrested soon after the murder but after several delays and four court postponements, the case was removed from the court\u2019s roll<\/a> on 14 December. The case was brought back to court on 5 May this year following action<\/a> by Free Gender,<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, the case against Ngadleka was postponed for the sixth time since May. Ngadleka\u2019s newly appointed legal aid lawyer asked for the postponement until Wednesday \u201cto consult with this client\u201d. This angered one of Mqathanya\u2019s friends who broke the silence in the court by storming out the moment the magistrate granted the postponement.<\/p>\n

Outside court, Mqathanya\u2019s family and friends were visibly distressed. \u201cIt really is frustrating. We come here each time, sit here throughout the morning, only for the case to be postponed,\u201d said Mqathanya\u2019s brother, Lelethu Ngalo.<\/p>\n

Soldaat said, \u201cIf this case is postponed again on the 27th, we will have to meet the senior prosecutor. It\u2019s been a while now. Coming to court is expensive and the family needs closure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Action Society, an organisation working in communities to fight for reform and accountability in the justice system, said Mqathanya\u2019s case was a reminder of the seriousness of violence against women and children. Spokesperson Kaylynn Palm said that the Commission for Gender Equality\u2019s report into SAPS\u2019s readiness to handle cases of gender-based violence revealed \u201can array of issues, including a shortage of vehicles, phones and computers\u201d.<\/p>\n

Palm said Action Society has been monitoring another case at the Khayelitsha court , where a man is accused of assaulting three women whom he had dated. Palm said one of the women\u2019s case dockets is missing, and another wants to withdraw her case after frequent postponements.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not know the exact reasons for the postponements, but it is worrying that victims and families must wait long to see justice served. As a society, we must keep the government, the SAPS and the minister of police accountable,\u201d said Palm.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

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Source: GroundUp<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The case against Bongani Ngadleka was postponed for the sixth time since May 2022. He is on trial for the murder of Phelokazi Mqathanya, who was lesbian, on 2 May in 2021. Mqathanya\u2019s family and activists believe her murder was a hate crime. Archive photo: Mary-Anne Gontsana Lesbian rights movement Free Gender will demand answers […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":232053,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9928],"tags":[28001],"class_list":{"0":"post-232052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-groundup","8":"tag-groundup","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/murder-victims-friend-storms-out-of-khayelitsha-court-as-case-is-postponed-yet-again.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}