This, after Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, said she is going interview them after some of the 80 intended beneficiaries told her of how empty promises were made to them by the two politicians regarding the infamous Estina Dairy Project. 

The intended beneficiaries have during a public hearing held by Mkhwebane, in Vrede, said Zwane and Qabathe told them that their livelihood will be improved through the R220 multimillion project earmarked for farmers in the area, but never saw a single cent of it. 

Mkhwebane has thus far committed to investigating the suspected political interference in the project and possible prejudice suffered by its intended beneficiaries.

She previously came under fire and was criticised by opposition parties for not indicating in her previous report how the former Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, Zwane, and other top politicians benefited from the project.

The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) previously alleged that the Gupta family and their associates benefited from the R220 million earmarked for the project through investing it in a pool account at the Bank of Baroda, but later dropped the charges on grounds that they were unable to obtain crucial information from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India on the case. This, after the NPA had to provide each of the accused with the finalised docket and indictment by November 30, 2018, after their application for a three-month postponement was granted, or risk the case being struck off the roll.

The criminal case against all the accused has since been provisionally withdrawn in the Free State High Court. 

The accused included former Free State Agriculture head, Peter Thabethe; General Manager for District Services at the Free State Agriculture Department, Takisi Masiteng; former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Free State Agriculture Department, Sylvia Dlamini; Varun Gupta; Acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Oakbay Investments, Ronica Raghavan; former Oakbay Investments CEO, Nazeem Howa; Sahara CEO, Ashu Chawla; and Estina Director, Kamal Vasram,

Following bank statements leaked to the media two months ago, indicating how the Free State Government deposited over R334 million into the Estina account within just two years, the DA in the Free State appealed to the new NPA head, Shamila Batohi, to reinstate the charges.

With the NPA not having responded yet on this plea, some social media users have posed questions as to whether this case will see the dawn of the day and whether Mkhwebane’s investigations will yield any results this time around.

OFM News