News24
Cape Town – Two men who allegedly turned a luxury flat in Sea Point into a laboratory for manufacturing the drug, CAT, were released on bail on Wednesday after their families raised R75000 for each of them. Cape Town magistrate Aziz Hamied fixed bail at R100000 each on Monday, but on Tuesday reduced the amount at the request of defence attorney Ben Mathewson. Jacobus Johannes Venter, 42, and Jacques van Rensburg, 37, couldn’t raise the reduced amount either, at first. But, they managed to do so overnight and they stepped out of the dock Wednesday, bail paid. The case was postponed to April 24 next year for further investigation. Prosecutor Carmen Daniels told the court that the substances confiscated in the police raid on June 28 were being forensically analysed to ensure it was methcathinone – the forensic name for CAT. Three weeks ago, the Scorpions’ asset forfeiture unti (AFU) got a Cape High Court order to freeze a bank account belonging to the two men and containing R305000.
High Court order
At the magistrate’s court proceedings on Tuesday, the prosecutor said the AFU was drafting papers for a second High Court order to freeze further bank accoutns and luxury items confiscated from Venter and van Rensburg’s home in Noordhoek. As it turned out, Daniels was unaware that the intended second High Court application was already under way. A provisional High Court order was granted, and the AFU application was postponed to August 30 for Venter and van Rensburg to oppose it, if they wanted to do so.