Glenmore activist's reprieve

David Macgregor

GRAHAMSTOWN High Court security guards breathed a sigh of relief when serial window smasher Velile Ben Mafani promised a magistratehe would stop throwing bricks at the court building.

Facing two years behind bars and a R4000 fine for smashing two windows valued at R100 – for the fourth time in as many years in January last year – the penniless Glenmore activist was spared jail time by a sympathetic magistrate who gave him one last chance to stop.

Before throwing Mafani the lifeline, magistrate Ntsiki Moni cleared the court and gave the 59-year-old a lengthy pep talk saying although she personally felt for his cause, she was bound by law to punish him.