Pretoria - The third court case postponement involving the murder of the late ANC MPL Mapiti Matsena is starting to take a toll on the bereaved family.
This was expressed by the family spokesperson Abel Matsena following a brief appearance of the accused Thoka Monoko, 29, at the Pretoria North Magistrate's Court.
Monoko was charged with murder and housebreaking after he allegedly stabbed to death the deceased at his Doornpoort home on July 15.
He allegedly broke into the premises while armed with a knife before he ambushed Matsena, who also served as the regional deputy chairperson of the ANC in Tshwane.
Unlike during his last court appearance where he constantly interjected the court proceedings by making a gesture that he would want to confess something, Monoko cut a lonely figure in the dock.
He listened attentively as the State prosecutor asked for a postponement of the case to December 4 pending further investigation. He will be remanded in custody until his next court appearance.
Monoko previously asked for forgiveness from the family, but it was unclear whether the family was willing to bury the hatchet.
Outside court the family expressed a sense of disappointment in the manner the case was "dragging on" despite having heard from the investigating officer that all evidence has been gathered.
Part of the evidence included a sharp knife, which was used to stab the deceased multiple times until he drew his last breath.
"This thing of postponement is opening wounds in the family. We thought everything went well based on the investigating team," said Matsena, also a brother to the deceased.
According to him, there was seemingly a gap between the police and the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
"I think there is a huge gap between the police and the NPA. I can see that the NPA is overlooking the work that the police are doing.The case is being postponed to December 4, but let's give them a chance so that they can satisfy themselves with the case, although it is dragging on a lot now," he said.
He told the Pretoria News that the court was previously postponed for more than four weeks in order to finalise the postmortem.
"We were told that the postmortem was done and the results are back, but now we don't know what other investigations they are still doing. Previously, they said the magistrate was not there, but now he is back. We don't know, but I think he wants to familiarise himself with the case,"he said.
He said Matsena's widow Mmatema was still too distraught to speak to the media.
Pretoria News