Zwane, who is a current Member of Parliament in the National Assembly, and chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Transport, is charged with fraud, theft, money laundering and corruption linked to the case in which R288 million was earmarked for the project. 

He is charged along with two co-accused, Gupta enterprise employee Ronica Ragavan and Ugeshni Govender, a former employee of the Gupta-owned Sahara company. 

The three accused are out on R10 000 bail each. 

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It remains to be seen if they will appear on Wednesday with new suspects or if the matter will be transferred to the High Court.

The case involves R288 million, which was syphoned off the dairy farm project, leaving over 80 farmers from Vrede in the Phumelele Local Municipality in the province in limbo.

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The former minister was the MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Free State at the time the project was signed off in 2012.

Ragavan and Govender were also the suspects in a previous Estina matter in 2018, which was provisionally withdrawn, pending further investigations.

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Zwane and Govender are said to have handed themselves over to the authorities after fully cooperating with the police, who notified them about the warrants of arrest due to their alleged involvement. 

At the last court appearance in September 2022 at the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court, the National Prosecution Authority's (NPA) Independent Investigation (ID) spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, said other persons will be requested to appear at the next court date or warned to appear.

"That matter will then proceed through the normal pre-trial measures and will eventually be transferred to the High Court," Seboka added. 

Zwane and former Free State officials, including then MEC for Agriculture, Mamiki Qabathe, were implicated by whistle-blowers and the DA's Free State chairperson, Roy Jankielsohn.

OFM News previously reported that over R220 million earmarked for Estina to assist 80 upcoming farmers in Vrede was looted from the province without beneficiaries seeing a single cent. Testimonies made to the Zondo Commission, chaired by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, put to light how the provincial department made a R30 million up-front payment to Estina without any work being done or services rendered.

The commission has heard how Estina’s bank account only had R16 on 4 July 2012, days before the provincial government deposited an amount of R30 million into its account.

OFM News