JUAN UYS CASE POSTPONED

GLA head and alleged sex-blogger Juan Uys appeared in the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on Monday on charges of crimen injuria and theft.

Uys’s legal representative Mr. Khan asked the court for an extension while the case was being tabled. After further questioning Magistrate Phindi Norman granted the Khan/Uys team the postponement.

Uys has been told appear at the Cape Town Magistrate’s Court on August 20.

Speaking with journalists outside, Mr. Khan indicated that Uys will not be staying in Cape Town and will return to Kroonstad until his next appearance.

Meanwhile, Uys has told reporters that he will sue Cape Town mayoral committee member Simon Grindrod to the tune of R12-million.

Grindrod has claimed that Uys was behind the SA Male Prostitute blog which named him as a client. He went on to lay the charges of crimen injuria against Uys.

“It’s not simply a case of ‘this is your average political insult’. If you take into account the damage and destruction he has caused to organisations and individuals over the years … this gentleman seriously should volunteer for some form of help, psychiatric help,” Grindrod told reporters outside the copurt.

The case has seen the first new photos of the elusive Uys being published in years. Unusually, he has also spoken to journalists face to face; as head of the GLA he previously would only talk telephonically or communicate via fax and e-mail.

On the weekend, the Sunday Times reported that Uys had again denied being involved with the SA Male Prostitite blog or having used various aliases and further insisted that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance (GLA) was a genuine organisation with 112 000 members.

“Do I look like a fugitive? Here I am sitting, talking and laughing with police about it all…” Uys told the newspaper.

Reports have claimed that Uys is being investigated in the 1993 murder of a former lover. Police have said that they are awaiting forensic evidence in connection to the case. Uys has also been implicated in child pornography and running a brothel.

Uys and the activities of the GLA have been repeatedly discredited by the vast majority of LGBT organisations and activists in South Africa.