Speaker Thandi Modise has been acquitted of animal neglect and cruelty charges after she was charged a few years ago.
The Potchefstroom Magistrate’s Court on Friday found Modise not found guilty after her lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu, applied for her to be discharged on all six charges.
The case stems from the NSPCA obtaining a warrant in 2014 to inspect the animals on a farm in Modderfontein in the district of Tlokwe belonging to Modise. A tip-off indicated that the animals on the property had been abandoned.
A statement by the NSPCA explained that Modise’s farm was littered with the carcasses of over 50 pigs and other dead animals such as geese, ducks, sheep and goats. The NSPCA had been forced to euthanise more than 224 animals at the farm when it visited there in July 2014.
Head of AfriForum’s private prosecution unit, advocate Gerrie Nel, has been pursuing the private prosecution case on behalf of the NSPCA.
On Friday the magistrate found in his ruling that there was not sufficient evidence to prosecute Modise and that she could not held responsible.
Political Bureau