March and March mobiliser Wandile Nsibande will not be transferred to Westville Prison.
His lawyer, Xolani Zuma told the Durban Magistrate’s Court that he feared foreign nationals and prison warders at the facility.
The court ordered on Monday that Nsibande remain in custody at Durban Central police station until Friday.
Nsibande, accused number one in the public violence case, was not part of Monday’s bail application. His case was postponed to 16 October to allow the state to investigate his personal circumstances. The prosecution is opposing his release at this stage.
His lawyer, Zuma, told the court that Nsibande had previously been convicted, sentenced and imprisoned at Westville.
“Accused number one has previously been convicted and was sentenced and served at Westville. And he has been on a number of podcasts,” Zuma said.
He said Nsibande had spoken publicly on podcasts and social media about incidents involving prison warders and correctional services officials during his previous incarceration.
Zuma told the court that foreign nationals had been serving food to inmates held at Durban Central police station. Although there was nothing inherently wrong with this arrangement, he said, concerns had been raised about eating the food.
“There’s nothing amiss about that. But they raised a concern about eating that food,” he said.
Zuma said the Nigerian nationals who had been serving the food had since been transferred to Westville Prison, raising fears that Nsibande could encounter them there.
“The fear that accused number one in particular has is that he now may face double jeopardy, having to meet with these foreign nationals at Westville, but also the things that he has said before on social media and on the podcast,” Zuma said.
He told the court that Nsibande was a podcaster and musician who had learnt music while in prison.
The state opposed the request to keep him at Durban Central, but Zuma argued that the arrangement was needed for only three days.
“It’s a matter of three days and the state will not be prejudiced,” he said.
The magistrate acknowledged that he would ordinarily require confirmation from police that they had adequate space to accommodate an inmate.
However, he accepted the concerns raised by the defence and ordered that Nsibande remain at Durban Central.
“For the concerns you have raised, and which I deem to be with merit, I will nonetheless remand this person to Durban Central SAPS,” she said.
Zuma also asked the court to hear Nsibande’s formal bail application on Friday, arguing that resolving the matter was in the public interest.
“It’s in the public interest for this matter to be dealt with,” he said.
The prosecutor opposed the request, pointing out that the case had been postponed specifically to allow further investigations into Nsibande’s circumstances.
Meanwhile, Nsibande’s co-accused, Siphelele “Magolide” Shinga and Malizo Dzanibe were granted bail of R1,000 each on Monday.
The state has accused Shinga of leading the violence and using a wooden stick to assault police officers during the protests. The court did not view the video footage the prosecution said supported its allegations.
Police have said the arrests followed threats to shut down the MTN8 final at Moses Mabhida Stadium.
The case comes amid a week of violent protests in Durban, during which 14 vehicles were torched, two houses were set alight and shops were looted. The South African National Defence Force has been deployed to the city.
The protests followed a Constitutional Court ruling in July that asylum seekers could not be turned away solely because of procedural issues or illegal entry.
