Cape Town - In a desperate bid to get bail, Ses'khona People's Rights Movement leader Andile Lili apologised for telling people to kill criminals.
Lawyers representing the embattled Ses’khona leader worked around the clock on Friday to try and secure his release.
But Lili’s apology came too late when his bail application was denied, and he was remanded into custody.
The recently elected ANC Provincial Executive Member was arrested at his Makhaza home on Wednesday on a charge of incitement of violence.
Lili was detained at the Goodwood Correctional Centre following his brief appearance at the Bellville Magistrates’ Court, where prosecutors revealed they would be opposing his release.
His bail application was originally set for Wednesday, August 6, but his lawyers indicated they couldn’t accept this and spent the better part of Friday making arrangements for his release.
According to a well-placed source, one of the conditions agreed to for Lili’s release during meetings with senior prosecutors, was that he make a public apology.
By Friday evening, Lili’s lawyer Barnabas Xulu, supported by the ANC Provincial Secretary Faiez Jacobs, organised a press briefing to release a statement on his behalf.
“Our client regrets the utterance, there was no malice or negative intent,” said Xulu.
“Our client respects the law. He deeply regrets having uttered the remarks, he apologises to Ses’khona, its members, the ANC and South Africans at large.
“His plea to everyone is to please accept his apology.”
Lili was arrested after urging Ses’khona supporters to kill robbers, rapists and murders in their communities because the justice system was failing the poor.
He was speaking outside the Bellville Magistrates’ Court where he and eight others were to be sentenced for flinging poo at Cape Town International Airport in 2013.
Western Cape MEC for Community Safety, Dan Plato, demanded that Lili apologise and that the ANC take disciplinary action against him.
On Friday, Jacobs indicated an internal investigation into what Lili said would go ahead.
“We are yet to interview him and would like to do so,” he says.
Daily Voice