The Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court has agreed to postpone the trial of four former University of the Free State students.

However the magistrate hearing the matter was not happy with the February 2010 date suggested by the state and defence.

The four young men face charges of crimen injuria for videotaping black cleaning staff eating meat which the students had apparently urinated on. The employees can also be seen taking part in humiliating mock initiation tasks on the video.

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The state said it was ready to go ahead with the trial but it called for a postponement because the lawyer representing the four suspects had asked prosecutors to explore avenues of restorative justice.

State prosecutors almost retracted their application when the defence blamed them for not being ready to go ahead with the trial.

A heated debate ended with the magistrate granting a postponement despite earlier rulings that he would throw the case out of court if there were any more delays. But he is not happy with the requested dates of February 24 next year and said he might set an earlier date when court resumes later on Monday.