Cape Town - “I lit the mountain to give a message because the spirits told me to,” the man accused of setting Table Mountain on fire told the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court.
Yumbu Barnard Ndamdele, a foreign national, appeared on an arson charge on Thursday.
He stepped up to the dock in court 16 with uncut hair, a thick beard and a white, worn round-collar shirt.
As his rights to free legal representation were being read out by Magistrate Joe Magele, Ndamdele told the court he was sending a message when he lit the mountain.
State prosecutor Adrian Jansen asked that the court order a postponement for bail information.
The case was remanded to
Thursday.
Magela ordered that Ndamdele undergoes psychiatric evaluation.
Ndamdele was apprehended with petrol and other fire-starting devices near the scene of the fires.
He was arrested after four separate fires were started on Table Mountain’s slopes.
Mayco member for safety and security, JP Smith, said Ndamdele was known in the area: “A lot of people have identified
him.
“He was screaming his head off and clearly at the location where the four fires started, so people suspected it may be
him.”
Firefighters were dispatched to Tafelberg Road to extinguish the blaze, while two fire trucks and a water tanker reponded and two helicopters assisted too.
Table Mountain National Parks provided assistance.
Spokesperson for the City of Cape Town’s fire and rescue services, Theo Layne, said the “large vegetation fire” was on the upper slopes of the mountain above the lower cableway station.
The firefighting operation was estimated to have cost authorities as much as R400 000.
@TheCapeArgus