The accused is charged with contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), fraud, corruption, and money laundering.

Mosebenzi Zwane, a Member of Parliament in the National Assembly, and 15 other co-accused, including former government officials, will be appearing in the High Court for the first time for the commencement of a pre-trial.

According to the National Prosecuting Authority's Independent Directorate spokesperson, Sindisiwe Seboka, the suspects will be appearing on charges emanating from the alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture, through a company called Estina.

The state has since indicted more suspects in the case. 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 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 being rendered. The commission heard how Estina only had R16 in its bank account on 4 July 2012, days before the provincial government deposited an amount of R30 million into this account.

The accused in the matter include former Free State head of the department for Rural Development, Peter Thabethe; former Chief  Financial Officer, Seipati Dhlamini; former Chief Director District Services Takisi Masiteng; Estina Director Kamal Vasram; and eight companies.

The accused join Zwane, former Sahara employee Ugeshni Govender, and Islandsite former Director Ronica Ragavan.

"They appeared on charges emanating from the alleged looting of the Free State Department of Agriculture, through a company called Estina.

On 5 July 2012, Estina (Pty) (Ltd) entered into an agreement with the department to establish and implement a dairy farm project in Vrede, to benefit previously disadvantaged farmers and to uplift the people of the Vrede area.

In terms of the agreement, Estina was to provide a capital injection of R228 million. Paras Dairy (a company incorporated in India) was presented as Estina’s partner in the Vrede Dairy Project.

The agreement further stipulated that the department was to contribute R342 million, including VAT, over a period of three years," Seboka added.

The Estina company allegedly received R280 million from July 2012 to April 2014.

"Investigations also revealed that no proper tender procedures were followed with regards to the decision to fund the proposed Vrede Dairy Project. Estina did not adhere to its obligations in terms of the agreement as only the department paid its contribution into bank accounts held by Estina," Seboka further added.

Some of the accused in this Estina Vrede case also stand accused in the Estina adjacent case where R25 million was also allegedly looted from the Free State Provincial coffers.

OFM News