Former senior police officials feature prominently in several criminal cases the courts will deal with in 2021.
Defendants due in the dock include former acting national police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane and two former provincial commissioners, from Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal respectively, Deliwe de Lange and Mammonye Ngobeni.
Another big criminal case, due to resume in the Bloemfontein magistrate’s court in February, features ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule fighting charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering.
The charges relate to the R255m Free State asbestos roofing removal project, which took place while Magashule was premier of the Free State. When he made his first court appearance on November 13, he was released on R200,000 bail.
The project saw seven others appearing in court in October, including businessman Edwin Sodi, Free State human settlements director-general Nthimotse Mokhesi and former Mangaung mayor Olly Mlamleli.
ANC MP and former state security minister Bongani Bongo’s trial begins in February. Bongo faces bribery and corruption charges after he allegedly tried to bribe Ntuthuzelo Vanara, an advocate who was evidence leader in the inquiry by the portfolio committee on public enterprises into the affairs of state-owned entities, particularly Eskom.
Another of the police cases involves former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli, who faces corruption, fraud and theft charges in connection with the secret service’s slush fund.
In September, Mdluli and former colleague Mthembeni Mthunzi were each sentenced to five years in prison for an incident that happened more than 20 years ago, when they kidnapped the husband of Mdluli’s girlfriend.
When the theft matter came before the Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in November, Mdluli failed to appear, citing ill health. His co-accused, Heine Barnard and Solomon Lazarus, appeared briefly before the case was postponed and referred to the Pretoria high court for the provisional date of February 8.
It is alleged the trio used the slush fund to pay for private trips to China and Singapore, made private use of witness protection houses and converted these properties for personal use.
Another case in which former senior police officials are implicated is the R191m “blue lights” tender case in which a number of accused, including Phahlane, former deputy national police commissioner Bonang Mgwenya and De Lange are in the dock.
The accused face 392 charges between them, including fraud, corruption, theft and money laundering. The charges relate to the multimillion-rand tender that business person Vimpie Manthata’s company, Instrumentation for Traffic Law Enforcement, was awarded to fit emergency warning lights on 1,550 police vehicles at inflated prices.
The state alleges the police officers ignored a competitive bidding process and committed the police service to spending R191m in exchange for benefits from Manthata.
When the trial was due to begin in November, Phahlane asked the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crimes Court to strike the case off the roll. The application was dismissed.
Ngobeni is charged alongside retired police officer Col Navin Madhoe and business person Toshan Panday over the supply of KwaZulu-Natal police accommodation during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, which was hosted by SA.
Another former police officer, Capt Aswin Narainpershad, will join them in the dock when the case resumes in February.
The officers are accused of colluding with Panday. Ngobeni’s corruption charges relate to payments towards her husband’s birthday party and failure to disclose the benefits received from Panday.
Panday is alleged to have connived with Madhoe to offer former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Maj-Gen Johan Booysen a R2m bribe to subvert the investigation against Panday and Madhoe.
Former Bosasa CFO Angelo Agrizzi will have to attend two court cases in the Johannesburg and Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Courts this year.
In the Johannesburg case, he is appearing with former ANC MP Vincent Smith on fraud and corruption charges arising from bribes Agrizzi allegedly paid to Smith and his company, Euroblitz. Agrizzi was denied bail when he appeared in court in October but appealed successfully.
When he appears in Pretoria in February in a R1.8bn fraud and corruption case, he will be joined in the dock by former correctional services commissioner Linda Mti, former correctional services CFO Patrick Gillingham and former Bosasa CFO Andries van Tonder. The matter relates to four tenders awarded to Bosasa between 2004 and 2007.
It is unclear whether the corruption case of former president Jacob Zuma and French arms company Thales will start this year. In October 2019, the high court in Durban refused Zuma’s application for a permanent stay of prosecution.
Zuma is accused of receiving an annual bribe of R500,000 from Thales for protection from an investigation into the controversial multibillion-rand arms deal.
The alleged bribe was facilitated by Zuma’s former financial adviser‚ Schabir Shaik.
On December 8, the case was postponed until February 23.
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