A government prosecutor Friday challenged a local judge's decision to postpone until February the trial of Winnie Mandela and seven of her former bodyguards on charges of kidnapping and assault. Mrs. Mandela, wife of African National Congress leader Nelson Mandela, has denied any wrongdoing. She and the others are accused of abducting and beating four young men at her house in the Soweto black township. The leader of her bodyguards, Jerry Richardson, earlier was convicted of murdering one of the four and was sentenced to death. The eight defendants appeared Sept. 24 in magistrate's court in Soweto, where her attorney argued that the original Oct. 30 trial date left Mrs. Mandela insufficient time to prepare. Magistrate T.F. Veldman postponed the Supreme Court trial until Feb. 4. Transvaal Attorney General Klaus Von Lieres on Friday asked the Supreme Court to rule that a magistrate lacks the power to change the Supreme Court trial date Von Lieres set. The delay in challenging the postponement was not immediately explained. The Supreme Court reserved judgment. The charges stem from a December 1988 incident that killed 14-year-old Stompei Seipei. During Richardson's trial, the three other alleged victims testified they were abducted by members of the Mandela United Football Club - Mrs. Mandela's bodyguards - and taken to her home. They said Mrs. Mandela whipped them and that the others also assaulted them. If convicted of the charges against them, the defendants could receive punishment ranging from a suspended sentence to the death penalty. Lawyers said the death sentence has never been imposed for kidnapping in South Africa. White and black leaders fear Mrs. Mandela's trial could strain relations between the ANC and the government as they try to start talks on ending apartheid. Youths on the soccer club Mrs. Mandela formed played few matches and were accused of terrorizing the Soweto neighborhood where she lived. According to testimony at Richardson's trial, the bodyguards accused Seipei of being a police informer and the other three of having homosexual relations with the white minister at their church home. No evidence was presented that Seipei, a well-known anti-apartheid activist, was a police spy. The Methodist Church cleared the minister of any misconduct.
