Brits - A 38-year-old man accused of the attempted murder of an Association of Mineworkers and Construction (Amcu) branch chairman appeared briefly in the Brits Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.
The case against Samkelo Mkhutshwa was postponed to December 22 for a formal bail application.
Prosecutor Cassius Mona applied for the case be heard in another court, as the State had already heard and ruled on the bail application of another accused linked to the case, Nkosinathi Mantashe.
"This court had already made a ruling in the matter of Mr [Nkosinathi] Mantashe, if this court had heard Mantashe's application and followed by this application, before a rule was made, then it could be allowed. But in this case a ruling had been made in the case of Mantashe," he told the court.
The defence opposed the application, stating that the same court that heard Mantashe's bail application was fit to hear Mkhutshwa's bail application. Mantashe was released on R10 000 bail in November.
But the case was transferred from Court B to Court A in Brits and postponed to Friday, for a Xhosa speaking interpreter to be available.
Mkhutshwa was arrested in Lusikisiki in the Eastern Cape on December 8 for attempted murder after another Amcu member was shot at Wonderboom in Marikana in the platinum mining belt in September. The following day, two other men were arrested in connection with the same shooting in the Eastern Cape.
The case against them was withdrawn because more than 48 hours lapsed before they were brought before the Rustenburg Magistrate's Court on December 12.
Mkhutshwa was then arrested on the same day for the attempted murder of Amca branch chairman Malibongwe Mdazo, who was shot in Mooinooi, which lies roughly halfway between Rustenburg and Brits, on July 22.