He appeared Tuesday (1/08) at the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on charges of fraud, money laundering, corruption, and contravention of the Engineering Professions Act, relating to tender fraud at a Kimberley mental health facility.

The provincial spokesperson for the NPA, Mojalefa Senokoatsane, said Block has been granted bail of R50 000, which the state did not oppose. Block will remain in prison, as he is currently serving a 15-year sentence at the Upington Correctional Services. The charges he is serving time for include corruption and money laundering. He began serving his sentence in 2018.

It is explained that although Block is still in prison, he might be granted parole in 2024 or 2025. If that happens and a verdict has not been delivered on the latest charges, he will be able to go home – as he is on parole for the first charges and on bail for the latest charges.

First charges

Block was convicted in 2018 alongside Christo Scholtz, the director of Trifecta Holdings, which was awarded multimillion-rand property tenders by Northern Cape government departments from 2006 to 2008.  

The Assets Forfeiture Unit was granted a confiscation order of more than R6 million in respect of the profit Trifecta acquired from six lease agreements it got corruptly. It was also granted a confiscation order of more than R53 million regarding an added advantage gained since there were no competitive tender procedures followed when the leases were awarded. The money was returned to the National Treasury.

The in-prison former Northern Cape Public Works MEC John Block.

Latest charges

Block is not charged alone. He is charged with the former HOD for Roads, Patience Mercia Mokhali, and the director of Babereki Consulting Engineers CC, Tshegolekae Motaung. It is alleged that in 2003 Babereki Consulting Engineers CC was awarded a tender for a mental health facility construction project. Mokhali is accused of appointing the company in question, although the company did not meet the requirements.

The two will appear alongside Block on 10 August 2023 at the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court.

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