Kanya Cekeshe: EFF bands together in bid to free Red Beret

Kanya Cekeshe has been incarcerated for two years and on Wednesday, the EFF banded together at the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court to vie for his release.

Kanya Cekeshe: What’s the latest?

Kanya Cekeshe has been held at the Leeuwkop Prison, in Bryanston, since 2017, on an eight-year sentence for malicious damage to property, a charge he pleaded guilty to at the height of the Fees Must Fall protests.

Kanye Cekeshe had admitted to actively torching a police van in 2016’s violent student protests. For this crime, he struck a deal with the State and got three years shaved off his eight-year bid.

However, the EFF has always believed that Kanya Cekeshe was shortchanged by the justice system and grossly misrepresented by his former attorneys.

Arguing for Kanya Cekeshe, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi has launched a bid to have the student released on bail while the merits of the case face scrutiny.

The intention, according to Ngcukaitobi, is to ultimately have the opportunity to retry the case after an appeal has been granted.

Bail application status: Is he a free man?

At the time of publishing this article, the matter had not yet been concluded in a court packed with EFF supporters. However, this is what we know about the merits of Ngcukaitobi’s arguments:

• the defence is challenging the State’s failure to produce physical evidence tying Kanya Cekeshe to the act of malicious damage to property;
• the State’s claim that it has video evidence of Cekeshe’s involvement is shoddy, as only images were produced in the initial case;
• there is no commonality with what he was charged with and what he admitted to;
• the accused was never questioned on what exactly he was admitting;
• the Magistrate never asked the accused what exactly are you admitting too, and failure to ask the accused is sufficient to vacate the whole conviction; and
• the accused is not a flight risk, there is no single fact that shows why Cekeshe would remain in prison.

#KanyaCekeshe: Ngcukaitobi: In the trial we can see 18 instances of incompetent lawyering which included constant ramblings, the lawyer constantly late for court, one minute counsel was a lawyer and than an advocate, which all culminated in my client being prejudiced.#sabcnews

— Chriselda Lewis ™️ (@Chriseldalewis) October 9, 2019

The court is expected to reach a decision on the matter of Cekeshe’s bail. However, for Ngcukaitobi, the aim is to highlight the gross injustice the student faced with being falsely convicted under an admission that should never have been accepted.

EFF leader, Julius Malema, cheering on from the sidelines, accused the ANC of refusing to allow Cekeshe the freedom he deserved.

The @MYANC state is opposing #KanyaCekeshe’s bail application. We have deployed the best legal brains Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, to set him free.

— Julius Sello Malema (@Julius_S_Malema) October 9, 2019