Johannesburg - The National Prosecuting Authority and the legal representative of Kanya Cekeshe the only #FeesMustFall activist still behind bars, have reached an agreement on Tuesday that a date for his bail hearing will be secured within the next two weeks.
This is after the South Gauteng High Court granted Cekeshe’s new legal team leave to appeal his conviction and sentence, which has been described as a grave injustice.
Cekeshe has been in Leeuwkop prison since December 2017, after he was sentenced to five years behind bars for public violence and malicious damage to property. He pleaded guilty to setting a police vehicle alight during a #FeesMustFall protest in 2016.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Cekeshe's newly appointed legal representative, argued on Tuesday that Cekeshe should be granted bail pending the appeal to his conviction and sentence.
Ngcukaitobi told the court that Cekeshe was poorly represented. "The transcript is littered with rookie mistakes," he said.
He argues that Cekeshe has been denied a fair trial and there has been a fundamental failure of justice and that the sentence is highly inappropriate.
In his petition, filed in the South Gauteng high court in June, Cekeshe said he was incorrectly advised by his previous counsel to plead guilty, and was not told that the state had a duty to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.
He said his counsel also continuously interrupted the magistrate, was incoherent, rambling throughout the trial and was repeatedly late for court and on numerous times the matter was stood down as he was not prepared.