Former MEC to appear for rape
2003-03-11 14:06
Bushbuckridge - The rape trial against former Mpumalanga safety and security MEC Luckson Mathebula resumes on Wednesday.
The Mhala regional court in Bushbuckridge postponed the case on November 22 so that Mathebula, who is out on his own recognisance, could "spend Christmas with his family".
The 19-year-old woman who has accused him of rape burst into tears, saying she wanted the case to be finalised so that she could put it behind her.
The woman is related to Mathebula and has accused him of raping her during a late-night drinking spree while his wife was away.
Mathebula's wife Petunia attacked the woman outside the court during an earlier appearance, on October 9, forcing police to restrain her.
Mathebula has had an ongoing duel with the judicial system that began with wife battery, assault, murder and assassination charges related to the death of his first wife, Rose Mnisi, in 1998.
Mathebula and a nephew, Moshe, narrowly beat the murder charges when the politician's mistress, Pretty Thembi Gama, withdrew as a state witness.
Mathebula's ongoing brushes with the law have crippled his political career, which barely survived wife battery charges in 1998 when Rose Mnisi, a popular rural school teacher, accused him of breaking her jaw with a wooden curio.
The charges were only dropped when Mnisi was gunned down at point-blank range by three brazen attackers just days before the trial.
The assassination, witnessed by scores of Mnisi's primary school pupils, has been described as the most bloody murder of a public figure in an area infamous for violence.
Mathebula was arrested in a dramatic police swoop hours after the incident, when his mistress turned state witness and confessed to supplying the murder weapon and a getaway vehicle.
Gama later withdrew her statement and has fled the province. - African Eye News Service