Murder accused Buffalo City Metro coastal sanitation manager Alfred Herman Bucholtz is seeking a plea bargain with the state.
He wants to plead guilty to a culpable homicide charge instead of facing trial on the murder charge preferred on him by the state.
The charge emanates from an incident at the BCM roads and electricity depot in Chiselhurst in November 2015 in which Bucholtz’s co-worker Mmeli Mbindlana, 53, died after the accused allegedly rammed into a locked steel gate.
At the time of the incident, a group of more than 100 municipal workers, clad in blue overalls, were staging a sit-in over an electronic clocking-in system, demanding a return to the old method of clocking in at work by signing a register.
Employees had arrived early at work and locked management out of the depot.
Bucholtz, 58, of Gonubie, was allegedly reporting for duty when he came across the protesters standing inside the premises next to a locked gate.
He reportedly approached security personnel for keys to the gate but was told there were no keys.
A witness at the time, Zolani Ndlela, of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) told Dispatch Bucholtz got into his bakkie, reversed for about 100m and then sped towards the gate.
He crashed it open, said Ndlela, and upon impact, the gate hit Mbindlana, who died later that day at Frere Hospital.
The Mdantsane father of four was employed as a road maintenance worker.
Bucholtz, in the East London Magistrate’s Court before regional magistrate Nomthandazo Vabaza on Tuesday, was represented by Advocate Terry Price.
The trial, however, did not proceed as Bucholtz wanted to make a representation to the state for a plea deal.
The deal, if accepted by the state and the magistrate, would see Bucholtz avoid trial and proceed instead to being sentenced to either a jail term or a fine. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
Murder accused in bid for plea bargain
He wants to plead guilty to a culpable homicide charge instead of facing trial on the murder charge preferred on him by the state.
The charge emanates from an incident at the BCM roads and electricity depot in Chiselhurst in November 2015 in which Bucholtz’s co-worker Mmeli Mbindlana, 53, died after the accused allegedly rammed into a locked steel gate.
At the time of the incident, a group of more than 100 municipal workers, clad in blue overalls, were staging a sit-in over an electronic clocking-in system, demanding a return to the old method of clocking in at work by signing a register.
Employees had arrived early at work and locked management out of the depot.
Bucholtz, 58, of Gonubie, was allegedly reporting for duty when he came across the protesters standing inside the premises next to a locked gate.
He reportedly approached security personnel for keys to the gate but was told there were no keys.
A witness at the time, Zolani Ndlela, of the South African Municipal Workers’ Union (Samwu) told Dispatch Bucholtz got into his bakkie, reversed for about 100m and then sped towards the gate.
He crashed it open, said Ndlela, and upon impact, the gate hit Mbindlana, who died later that day at Frere Hospital.
The Mdantsane father of four was employed as a road maintenance worker.
Bucholtz, in the East London Magistrate’s Court before regional magistrate Nomthandazo Vabaza on Tuesday, was represented by Advocate Terry Price.
The trial, however, did not proceed as Bucholtz wanted to make a representation to the state for a plea deal.
The deal, if accepted by the state and the magistrate, would see Bucholtz avoid trial and proceed instead to being sentenced to either a jail term or a fine. — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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