Johannesburg - Pastor Josias Mabaso is mentally unstable and will not be standing trial for defrauding the government of millions and trying to bribe a journalist not to blow the whistle.
The corruption case against Mabaso was withdrawn on Tuesday in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court.
State advocate James Bhengu said Mabaso’s mental state and his fragile health had led to the withdrawal of the charges.
“We sent him to Sterkfontein for observation and they confirmed that he was mentally unstable. Even the last time he was in court, he was throwing tantrums, saying things we could not understand,” Bhengu said on Tuesday, shortly after the case was withdrawn.
Mabaso is the founder of Ekukhanyeni Combined, a school franchise that comprised two schools in the Ramaphosa informal settlement and Denver.
He was arrested in 2011 after allegedly trying to bribe LeadSA’s Yusuf Abramjee, who is also Primedia’s head of corporate affairs and communications.
Abramjee had earlier gone to the two Ekukhanyeni schools and found that Mabaso had not channelled the millions the Gauteng Department of Education had given him, to them. They were run down and the children did not have food despite the fact that the department had given the schools R20 million in subsidy that year.
Abramjee confronted Mabaso. Mabaso allegedly offered to buy Abramjee’s silence for R1.2m.
The Hawks nabbed Mabaso for allegedly trying to hand Abramjee a R50 000 bribe, supposedly the first instalment of the R1.2m.
After the scandal broke, then Education MEC Barbara Creecy said her department had terminated the subsidy and placed the children in public schools.
Mabaso was charged with corruption, but after a lengthy court case that did not seem to be going anywhere, the National Prosecuting Authority withdrew charges.
The 73-year-old man made a brief appearance in court on Tuesday. He was accompanied by his son who always takes him to court.
Speaking to The Star outside court, Bhengu said the case had been hampered by delays as Mabaso was always in and out of hospital and could not attend the trial. At some point, the State wanted to arrange a plea bargain with him, but had to abandon it as he could not understand what was going on, he said.
Bhengu said Mabaso’s lawyer had also complained in court that he was battling to get instructions from him.
The NPA then sent him to Sterkfontein Psychiatric Hospital for observation. The hospital confirmed that he was unfit to stand trial.
“I had to take into account all the factors and realised it would be pointless to keep the matter on the roll and keep remanding it,” he said.
Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said they were disappointed at the turn of events, because they had concluded their own investigations into Mabaso.
“This affects us and our plans, because we have a solid case against him. The evidence was ready to be presented in court.
“This is a major setback. But if the State says he is not fit to stand trial, we will monitor the situation and wait until he gets better because he has a case to answer to,” Lesufi said.
Abramjee said LeadSA were also disappointed. “But (we) respect that the court cannot ignore the medical recommendations regarding Mabaso’s fitness to stand trial. The victims in this case are the hundreds of learners that were denied the right to receive quality education, despite their school being subsidised by the Education Department.”
Phumla Sekhonyane said the Education Department had recovered a few million rand from Mabaso through the assistance of the Asset Forfeiture Unit.
The Star