MBOMBELA – The Department of Correctional Services has been unable to access its electronic- management system for a week. Last Tuesday, this led to its inability to locate a murder- and-theft accused for his court appearance in time. As a result, the case against Mr Solly Bedwell Zitha (38) and his two co-accused was postponed to April 20.
Zitha, along with Mr Pleasure Ngobeni (20) and Mr Solly Bedwell Zitha (38) stand accused of robbing Ms Vhanja Tibane of her cattle in December 2009. They allegedly beat the 73-year-old woman with a spade and she succumbed to her wounds. They were also charged with malicious damage to property and assault.
Senior state prosecutor Ms Ansie Venter prepared for the case by confirming which of the accused were present. “Nelspruit Correctional Services is unable to locate the prisoner for his court appearance as their systems are down. A manual roll-call to find him will take more than three hours as there are more than 600 prisoners,” Venter said. Lowvelder’s subsequent telephone call to the city’s prison confirmed this.
According to the prison’s human-resources department’s Ms Nomsa Nkosi, the facility’s computers have been down for a week. “This is why the prisoner could not be located timeously for his court appearance.” Venter, who had previously arranged for two postponement dates in the case, was able to confirm the case’s continuation on April 20.
