The court postponed the poo-flingers' case on Friday to October for further investigation.
The prosecutors and defence lawyers called for the postponement because they wanted to consolidate the different cases of poo dumping into one so that they could have a single trial, as the cases mostly involve the same suspects.
This would also avoid unnecessary state expenditure.
The 183 people who were arrested at the Esplanade train station in Woodstock with bags of human excrement in a train en route Cape Town in June appeared at the Cape Town Magistrate's Court on Friday.
The group was arrested a week after three ANC members: a councillor in the City of Cape Town councillor, Loyiso Nkohla, a former councillor Andile Lili and Themba Mbanjwa dumped faeces on the steps of the Western Cape Legislature.
Police believed that the faeces, which was in sealed plastic bags that were stacked in milk crates, was destined to be dumped at the legislature in Cape Town.
Anti-Zille
On Friday morning, dozens of the accused protesters and their supporters picketed outside the court, singing struggle and anti-Helen Zille songs while waiting to appear before the court.
Some of the songs hinted that more faeces-dumping should be expected. Shortly before court proceedings begun, Nkohla addressed the crowd and informed them that they would be appearing in groups of 20 due to space constraints.
Their response: "Next time we should be appearing in groups of 100."
Inside the court, magistrate Alfreda Lewis agreed to postpone the case to October 25. The prosecution and defence wanted all the matters to be joined into one.
"It [the postponement] will allow us to address the national director of public prosecutions to have a single trial as we are dealing with the same people on the same matter," defence lawyer Duncan Korabie, who represents some of the accused including the ringleaders, Nkohla and Lili told the court.
It is unclear how many cases there are, but besides the group that was caught on a train and the dumping at the provincial legislature, human waste was also dumped at government offices in Green Market Square and at Cape Town International Airport.
Defence lawyer
Another defence lawyer Barnabas Xulu, who represents some of the accused, told journalists that they had not received the complete charge sheet, and were not sure what the exact charges are.
Xulu said the accused also needed to apply for legal aid.
Western Cape police have previously said the group was charged with contravening the Gatherings Act, failing to give notice of a protest, contravening a court order, violating the Health Care Act by transporting hazardous material (human faeces on public transport) and travelling without valid train tickets.
- M&G
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