Mbombela - The fraud and theft case against former ANC treasurer general Mathews Phosa's former butler Jan Hendrik Venter was transferred to a higher court on Thursday.
Venter was not asked to plead when he appeared in the Hazyview Periodical Court, a Sapa correspondent reported.
Venter's lawyer Koen Koekemoer asked the court to transfer the case to the White River District Court.
Magistrate Eddie Mabaso agreed and warned Venter to appear in the district court for trial, where five witnesses would testify against him. The case was postponed to June 22.
Earlier this month, Venter claimed in an affidavit he saw Phosa draft a report at his Hazyview home accusing Mpumalanga premier David Mabuza of being an apartheid-era spy.
This allegation, as yet untested, contradicted Phosa's insistence that a whistle-blower anonymously delivered a document to his house about Mabuza's alleged past.
In a statement, Phosa said he knew Venter for about two years. He said in May 2014, he had a fallout with Venter. The details of the fallout were unnecessary for the purpose of his statement.
Phosa said after Venter resigned he started a campaign aimed at tarnishing Phosa's image and integrity.
“Some close associates even suspected there was a political motive; personally I failed to see the political motive. My response was to file a lawsuit against him and claim money he allegedly stole to the amount of about R53,000,” he said at the time.
Phosa opened a case against Venter at the Hazyview police station on May 21, 2014.
“After this date I learned that Mr Venter was being courted by other individuals to continue his campaign against me, culminating in the allegations published in the media.”
On Thursday, prosecutor Aaron Kotsedi told the court the case was dragging on and that Venter's defence was not collecting all necessary documents for the case.
“State witnesses are calling the court to find out when they are coming to testify. The defence has been making things difficult for the court. They were doing this without the docket. The docket has been placed in White River to be collected,” Kotsedi said.
Koekemoer admitted he had not collected the docket because he was on leave. He told the court eight witnesses would testify in Venter's defence.
Sapa