SA faces a six-month wait for the Zondo commission’s report on state capture, but before President Cyril Ramaphosa presents it to parliament at the end of June many of the people it’s likely to expose will have appeared in the dock already.
Suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, ex-MP Vincent Smith and former Bosasa COO Angelo Agrizzi all have court dates in 2022.
Others due in the dock for offences allegedly committed during a period of indiscriminate looting include former acting police commissioner Khomotso Phahlane and 14 people accused of stealing about R2.3bn from VBS Mutual Bank.
One of the most eagerly anticipated trials, due to start in the Pretoria high court in April, involves five men alleged to have killed former Orlando Pirates and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Senzo Meyiwa.
Meyiwa was shot dead on October 26 2014 in what is described as a botched robbery in Vosloorus, east of Johannesburg. He was killed in the presence of his girlfriend, Kelly Khumalo and their four-year-old son, Khumalo’s mother Ntombi and sister Zandi, Zandi’s boyfriend Longwe Twala, and his friends Mthokozisi Twala and Tumelo Madlala.
Muzikawulahlelwa Sibiya, Bongani Ntanzi, Mthobisi Mncube, Mthokosizeni Maphisa and Fisokuhle Ntuli first appeared in court in connection with his murder in October 2020.
Another trial that will grab the headlines in 2022 is that of Ntuthuko Shoba, the alleged mastermind behind the killing of his pregnant girlfriend, Tshegofatso Pule.
The trial was due to begin on October 4, but Shoba’s lawyers secured a postponement until January 17, after arguing that Covid-19 protocols at the prison where he is being held meant they had been unable to consult him fully.
Pule was eight months pregnant when she was found hanging from a tree, in June 2020. The prosecution has led evidence that her unborn child was Shoba’s.
Six people accused of murdering retired crime intelligence officer Thekiso Hendrick Mogoerane will also learn their fate when their case resumes in the Johannesburg high court in May.
Mogoerane, 61, was found strangled on the back seat of his car in Kempton Park in January 2018. His wife Cordelia, their son Thabiso, 30, and alleged hitmen Mzweshinga Zondo, 51, Thulani Nxumalo, 36, Sanele “Mdeva” Mphuthi and traditional healer Ntobizodwa Dlamini, 73, have been on trial since 2020.
The state says Zondo, Nxumalo and Mphuthi drove from Vosloorus to Birchleigh North and strangled Mogoerane.
In the VBS Mutual Bank case due to begin on January 24, the defendants face charges including racketeering, corruption, fraud and money laundering,
Magashule will be the centre of attention the following month when he asks the Bloemfontein high court to withdraw the corruption case against him.
The case relates to a R255m Free State asbestos-roofing removal tender while Magashule was premier of the province. Though R21m was paid to a company that did an audit of houses with asbestos roofs in the province, the rest allegedly went to businesspeople, politicians and government officials.
Magashule’s 15 fellow defendants include business-person Edwin Sodi, former Mangaung mayor Olly Mlamleli and former Free State human settlements head Nthimotse Mokhesi.
The corruption charges against Agrizzi and Smith relate to allegations of government services company Bosasa’s security upgrades at Smith’s Gauteng home, and that Smith accepted cash from the company.
The cases have been separated due to Agrizzi’s ill health. Smith will be back in court on January 21 and Agrizzi on March 2, when the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court will hear the results of a medical inquiry into his fitness to stand trial.
In the so-called blue lights trial, Phahlane and former deputy national police commissioner Bonang Mgwenya face charges relating to a multimillion-rand contract for police vehicles’ emergency lights.
In November, the two accused asked the Specialised Commercial Crime Court in Johannesburg to investigate “unreasonable” delays in completing proceedings. Their application is scheduled to continue on January 20.
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