The grandson of Nelson Mandela is attending a bail hearing following a brief appearance in court.
The 24-year-old Mbuso Mandela is accused of raping a 15-year-old. Mbuso Mandela will return to the Johannesburg magistrate court on Friday for the bail hearing.
He is alleged to have raped the girl at a Johannesburg restaurant over a week ago.
During his appearance last Friday, the court heard that the man believed the sex was consensual. There was also uncertainty over whether the girl was 15 or 16.
Magistrate Pieter du Plessis did not read statements into the record, but Mandela’s lawyer Nico Swart highlighted that they believed that the girl was not underage.
He is currently facing a Schedule 6 offence because the girl is deemed to be underage. If she is 16, it would become a Schedule 5 offence.
His lawyer also said he still needed to get a statement from another witness whom he presumed was afraid to say anything because he was in the country illegally.
