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Power cuts cause chaos at court
17/01/2008 16:01 - (SA)
Walter Ka Nkosi
Nelspruit - There was chaos at a Nelspruit courthouse on Wednesday when Eskom cut the power without warning as part of its load shedding exercises.
Some people, including policemen with case dockets, were trapped in the court's three elevators for an hour.
"This is a problem that has to be fixed urgently, otherwise there's nothing we can do if the power goes off," complained chief prosecutor of the regional court, Michael Mazibuko, on Thursday.
"Postponing cases is the only way to accommodate the ups and downs of the power cuts," he said.
The power went off twice without warning in the Nelspruit city centre on Wednesday, at 09:00 for two-and-a-half hours and again at 16:00 for one-and-a-half hours. On Thursday, there was another two-hour power cut just after 09:15.
One court case had to be postponed for a month because of the power cuts.
Armed robbery suspect Jeffrey Ngwamba, 36, of KaNyamazane was told he would have to wait until February 18 for his trial to continue.
Ngwamba, who is already serving 15 years for an unrelated robbery, has not yet been asked to plead to the latest armed robbery charge.
He is accused of robbing general dealer Sipho Mango and his wife as they were closing their shop on April 30 2004.
Mango was with three other suspects and the couple was robbed of items valued at R23&nsp;987, including cellphones, gold and silver wristwatches, hi-fis and groceries.
Mango's co-accused were acquitted due to lack of evidence.
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