Parliament fire: Mafe’s startling claims against Ramaphosa and Cabinet ministers

• The indictment against Zandile Mafe contains some startling claims against the president and some members of his Cabinet.
• They include bizarre theories that some of them keep the body parts of children with albinism at their homes.
• It also reveals that after the fire at Parliament started, Mafe leaned out of an open window and waved at police.

Zandile Mafe’s alarming claims against President Cyril Ramaphosa and some members of his Cabinet are contained in the indictment that was given to him in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, as he moves closer to going on trial for arson and terrorism.

Mafe was arrested on 2 January during the huge fire that destroyed the National Assembly building and parts of the Old Assembly at Parliament.

READ | Parliament arson accused Zandile Mafe’s case transferred to High Court

In the indictment which the State gave to his lawyer Nikiwe Nyathi, the State alleges that he accuses Ramaphosa of funding rhino horn poaching; that Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula took a substantial amount from the Road Accident Fund to pay for ANC election T-shirts; and, that the South African government gave the US government trillions for Americans to get their social grants.

He also claimed that Ramaphosa gave R1.7 trillion to help refugees from other countries but that the president and Parliament did not care about the poor in South Africa.

The indictment continued:

Mafe also claimed that Police Minister Bheki Cele and Higher Education Minister Blade Nzimande were behind political killings of ANC opponents in KwaZulu-Natal.

Startlingly, he claimed that Ramaphosa, Cele and Nzimande kept the body parts of children with albinism at their homes in Gauteng and Limpopo.

During his bail application, the court heard that these claims made the police send him for a psychiatric evaluation. He was ultimately admitted to Valkenberg Hospital in Cape Town for further observation. This was found unprocedural, so he was released and taken to Pollsmoor Prison instead.

During his bail application, Mafe said there was nothing wrong with him and that he would only take questions about the fire and anything else he was accused of once he was on trial.

The case appears to be speeding up, with 12 August set for a pre-trial conference at the Western Cape High Court. Prosecutor Mervyn Menigo said the State was ready for the next steps.

The claims in the indictment are understood to have been gathered from a video interview, CCTV at Parliament, and statements he allegedly made during his interview with police after his arrest.

WATCH | Parliament fire: CCTV was working but no one was watching. Where were the police?

Mafe alleged that he was threatened by a white man at an undisclosed location to make some of his admissions.

Much is already known about his movements between the National Assembly building and the Old Assembly, pushing papers, chairs and boxes toward the doors of the Old Assembly offices, and pouring petrol on these piles, based on information given during his bail application.

He allegedly moved to the public gallery of the National Assembly and dropped…