Wynberg court sets 19 May 2027 trial date in barber torture case, the 11th postponement
Three Cape Town police officers accused of assaulting Juma Igiraneza in a 2023 Mowbray raid remain on active duty while the case moves to a date nearly four years after the alleged attack.
The trial of three police officers accused of torturing a barber during a raid on his Mowbray workplace in 2023 has been set down for 19 May 2027, the 11th postponement in the case.
As CapeTown ETC reported on 21 September, citing reporting by GroundUp, Lieutenant-colonel Delmore Manuel, constable Jermaine Conradie and constable Leigh-Ann Maroon are accused of repeatedly assaulting Juma Igiraneza on 7 November 2023. He was beaten with a baseball bat and suffocated with a plastic bag, according to the account of the alleged attack. Police were trying to get information about the whereabouts of his employer.
The three officers appeared in the Wynberg Magistrates’ Court on Monday, where magistrate Karel Meyer set the new date and said the interpreter needed for Igiraneza’s testimony had agreed to it.
“I am confident that this is the final date and all involved, including the interpreter, have also agreed that this date is suitable for them,” Meyer said.
Igiraneza travelled from the Eastern Cape for the appearance. Asked how he felt about the postponement, he shrugged. His brother, Sabushimike Gervais Hamza, said: “I guess we will be back here next year.”
The case has been set down and delayed repeatedly. It was scheduled for March 2025 but collapsed over plea negotiations. It was then set to begin in April 2026, but no Kirundi interpreter was available for Igiraneza’s testimony. The state provisionally withdrew the charges and reinstated them a month later.
All three officers remain on active duty. South African Police Service disciplinary processes produced a final written warning for Conradie, a written warning for Maroon, and a finding of not guilty for Manuel, who is currently the station commander in Muizenberg.
The delay sits inside a wider problem in South African criminal courts. Cases against police officers accused of assault frequently depend on testimony that requires interpretation, and a trial cannot proceed without an interpreter in the accused’s or the complainant’s language. When a date is lost to that shortage, the case returns to the bottom of a roll that is already congested.
For Igiraneza, the practical effect is that a complaint laid in November 2023 will not be tested in court until May 2027, more than three years later. Witnesses move, memories fade, and complainants who have to travel to attend each appearance carry the cost of every postponement themselves.
A separate internal process has already concluded. The SAPS disciplinary findings mean two of the three officers have been sanctioned by the service while the criminal case against them is still pending, and the third was cleared at that internal stage. Internal discipline and criminal prosecution are separate tracks, and a disciplinary outcome does not determine the criminal matter.
The 19 May 2027 date is the first in the case that the magistrate has described as final with the interpreter’s agreement secured. Whether it holds will be tested then.
Source: CapeTown ETC, Police torture case postponed for 11th time, reporting by GroundUp.
