Central SA
#Magashule and co applies for SCA petition permission─── LUCKY NKUYANE 10:06 Sat, 11 Jun 2022
Former Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, who is charged in a failed R255 million asbestos project case in the Free State, and three co-accused, have filed an application for permission to petition a previous High Court judgment.
Magashule and his three co-accused, which include the former head of the human settlements department, Nthimotse Mokhesi, want High Court Judge, Soma Naidoo, to grant them permission to argue in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
ALSO READ: #AsbestosGate: Magashule dealt a blow
This move comes after Judge Naidoo, in March, dismissed the groups' legal bid to have the charges against them dropped and thrown out of court.
However, it is understood that Judge Naidoo is still considering the application of the four suspects charged with fraud, corruption and money laundering, among other charges.
Magashule and his co-accused Mokhesi, Thabane Zulu and businessman Edwin Sodi, brought the application before the court.
ALSO READ: #AsbestosGate case postponed yet again
OFM News previously reported that standing Judge Corné van Zyl postponed the pre-trial to 23 September 2022.
The postponement of the pre-trial then left Magashule fuming and he even went as far as accusing the state of playing politics.
ALSO READ: “NPA is playing politics” #Magashule tells Judge
The accused in this case further include former Mangaung Metro mayor, Olly Mlamleli; the Director for Supply Chain Management at Human Settlements, Mahlomola John Matlakala; a businessman residing in Johannesburg, Sello Joseph Radebe; a Pretoria businessman, Abel Kgotso Manyeki; the former Director-General for the National Department of Human Settlements, Thabane Wiseman Zulu and Albertus Venter, who occupied a role in the Free State premier’s office.
It’s alleged that Sodi was irregularly awarded the housing audit tender via his joint venture with Diamond Hill Trading - owned by murdered Welkom businessman, Igo Mpambani - by the Free State Human Settlements Department in 2014. Not only was the tender irregular, but it is reported that kickbacks were given to some of the accused.
The implicated group is facing more than 70 counts of fraud, theft, attempted theft, corruption, and money laundering.
Following their arrests, the suspects were released on bail of R50 000 to R500 000.
