Bodyguards accompany DA pair in court

FLANKED by bodyguards, Nelson Mandela Bay DA members Rano Kayser and Werner Senekal attended proceedings at the Port Elizabeth Magistrate’s Court yesterday where the two ANC members who allegedly attacked them during a council brawl last year made a brief appearance.

Nelson Mandela Bay ANC councillor Andile Lungisa and Ward 19 councillor Gamalihleli Maqula face charges of assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Lungisa is accused of hitting Kayser, the mayoral committee member for roads and transport, over the head with a glass jug in an incident in October, while Maqula is accused of stabbing DA chief whip Senekal in the back with a sharp object.

The vicious attacks were caught on camera.

Dressed smartly in suits, Lungisa and Maqula looked confident as they briefly took their positions in the dock.

The court was packed with members of both political parties.

At the back of the court, two bodyguards kept watch over Senekal and Kayser, who allegedly had received death threats in connection with the criminal matter.

They were told to return to court as witnesses tomorrow.

Lawyer Charles Garai said he had been asked by the DA leadership to attend proceedings yesterday as a “watching brief”.

Meanwhile, the defence requested that the matter be postponed to tomorrow as the pair’s attorney, Luthando Ngqakayi, needed to sort out his fidelity fund certificate which gives him the right to appear in court.

Ngqakayi previously worked under his father’s certificate but as his father is now semi-retired he must apply for his own certificate.

The certificate will be available tomorrow.

No mention was made in court yesterday about the alleged death threats against Kayser and Senekal, which surfaced at a DA press briefing last week.

Police confirmed at the time that they were investigating the alleged threats.