Thursday 29 April 2021 - 5:08am
Fire-fighting teams work to keep the fire from crossing Philip Kgosana Drive, one of the main arterial roads into the city centre, threatening the suburb of Walmer Estate, after a forest fire burns out of control on the foothills of Table Mountain in Cape Town on April 19, 2021.
Rodger Bosch / AFP
CAPE TOWN - The charge of arson against a foreign national, arrested in connection with the Cape Town fires last week, has been dropped.
Instead, he is now facing a lesser charge of contravening the National Environmental Management Act for living in the Table Mountain National Park.
Frederick Mhangazo: Cape Town fire arson charges dropped
The state dropped the charges of arson against Frederick Mhangazo on Wednesday. He now faces a lesser charge for a fire he allegedly started.
Frederick Mhaganzo, the man accused of starting a fire in Cape Town, was released on R500 bail at the Cape Town Magistrates Court on Wednesday, 28 April. Mhangazo was initially charged with arson, which carries a minimum sentence of 15 years imprisonment, but National Prosecuting said there was not enough evidence to justify the charge.
Mhangazo is now charged with allegedly contravening the National Environmental Management Act, which carries a possible sentence of three years.
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