Mabe's corruption case postponed to July as NPA seeks more time for amended charge sheet

Former African National Congress (ANC) national spokesperson, Pule Mabe's corruption case has been postponed to July 7 to allow for the finalisation of the amended charge sheet.

This comes after the NPA requested a postponement to allow for more time to finalise the charge sheet.

Mabe, alongside his six co-accused, appeared in the Johannesburg Commercial Crimes Court, sitting in Palm Ridge, on Tuesday morning. 

They face a combined 16 counts of fraud, money laundering, and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act in relation to a R27 million tender scored by Mabe's company, Groen Mintirho (formerly Enviro Mobi), in 2017.

Lawyers for all the accused have since requested to be given the final charge sheet at least a week before the next court appearance.

Appearing on behalf of Mabe and three other co-accused, Zola Majavu pleaded with the State to speed up the process of amending the charge sheet so as not to negatively impact the accused due to delays.

"On behalf of accused 5, 7, 8, and 9, I can confirm the suitability of the confirmed date. I can also confirm that I am in possession of the full docket. On the previous occasion, Your Worship, having been privy to the docket on behalf of my clients, we filed a request for further particulars, which have since been responded to over the weekend.

"We are now in possession of a response. We do not intend to bring any application, nor do we intend to bring any representation. The only point I wish to place on record is that, as a result of the responses that we have received, it is no wonder that the State is talking of a process of amending the charge sheet. 

"I would urge the court to fix the date by which the amended charge sheet could be provided so that we avoid a situation where we come to court and we receive the charge sheet for the first time, resulting in unnecessary postponements," Majavu said.

State prosecutor Magdaline Montwedi-Mclean indicated that all requested documents were given to the defence, except for the final charge sheet.

"The State has since furnished all the accused with the charge sheet, which was furnished with the copies of the docket. That was the State’s first draft of the charge sheet," she said.

Groen Mintirho was meant to supply 200 three-wheeler motorbikes to the City of Ekurhuleni, with the State alleging that when it benefited from the tender in 2017, Mabe was still a member of Parliament.

The company received an upfront payment of roughly R25 million, despite the contract agreement stating that the government could only begin paying once 50% of the work was completed, according to the State, which has also claimed that the company failed to disclose its affiliation with Mabe.

Due to alleged procurement irregularities involving the City of Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality (EMM) and the Gauteng Department of Agriculture, Rural Development, and Environment (GDARD), the Special Investigative Unit (SIU) was able to secure a preservation order against Mabe's company from the Special Tribunal last year.

siyabonga.sithole@inl.co.za