COURT TRANSFERS TERRORISM CASE AGAINST MAMRE RESIDENT TO REGIONAL COURT
Bellville, South Africa, The Bellville Magistrates Court has transferred the terrorism case against Ferdinand Fortuin to the Bellville Regional Court and postponed it for his first appearance on 24 April 2025.
Fortuin is charged with four counts of contravention of the Protection of Constitutional Democracy Against Terrorism and Related Activities Act 33 of 2004 (POCDATARA) and for contravention of the Explosives Act 26 of 1956. The Deputy Director of Public Prosecution in the Western Cape, Adv Mervyn Menigo, told the court the case was previously postponed for the National Director of Public Prosecutions to authorise Fortuin’s prosecution on the POCDATARA charges. Today the authorization was provided to the court and attached to the charge sheet before the matter was transferred.
The State alleges that the 49-year-old Mamre resident contacted the Bellville Police Station on 11 November 2024 and informed officers that he had placed explosive devices at the Bellville Department of Water and Sanitation offices in Voortrekker Road and Bellville South, the Transnet Park Building and the Bellville Taxi Rank. This resulted in the deployment of substantial state resources and the evacuation of thousands of people from the three sites.
At the Water and Sanitation Department offices in Voortrekker Road, Bellville, police assisted by the three bomb disposal technicians, K-9 Dog Unit using explosive detection canines and visible policing unit members evacuated 164 people while 151 people were evacuated at the department’s Bellville South offices. Police assisted by the same units evacuated 250 people from the Transnet Park Building offices and 3 000 people were evacuated from the taxi rank. The taxi rank was closed and roads leading to and out of the taxi rank were closed resulting in huge panic in the area. Although the threats proved to be a hoax, the NPA views the charges in a serious light as they resulted in panic amongst the public and economic disruption at the three sites. The Legislature has criminalised this type of conduct in POCDATARA and in the Criminal Law Amendment Act 105 of 1997 has prescribed a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment for a first offender. The NPA will not hesitate to prosecute conduct of this nature to the full extent that the law allows.
