Durban — The trial against Zandile Gumede and others is likely to take place next year, as two of the 22 accused as well as their company no longer have the funds for legal representation.
Advocate Carl van der Merwe in court on Monday withdrew his services for Bongani Dlomo, Khoboso Dlomo and their company Omphile Thabang Projects as there were no funds to pay him.
It emerged in court that Legal Aid had received a call on Monday morning with regards to the issue of legal representation for the two, and that time was needed to process the application.
The 22 are charged with racketeering, fraud and corruption relating to a R320 million waste contract.
According to the State, the accused in this matter are an array of eThekwini municipal officials (current and past), ward councillors, business people and their companies.
The State alleges that eThekwini officials, including the city manager and ex-mayor, circumvented supply chain management (SCM) processes on a Durban Solid Waste (DSW) contract, for the benefit of identified service providers for more than R300 million.
Advocate Jay Naidoo representing Gumede protested against the delay and proposed a separation of trials in the matter.
“In the event that the matter is delayed by accused 15, 16 and 17, I ask My Lady to consider trial separation because this delay will prejudice my client.”
The defence for Bagcinile Cynthia Nzuza, advocate PM Ntuli, submitted to the State representations challenging the charges against the accused.
State prosecutor advocate Ashika Lucken said that should it get to the point where there was an application made for separation of trials, the State would “vehemently” oppose it.
She said that it was still early days to say whether the accused would get assistance from legal aid or not.
“At this stage it's premature,” she said of Naidoo’s proposal.
The matter was postponed to August 11 for further pre-trial hearings. Following the pre-trial conference on July 27 held in chambers, a letter was issued barring the media from filming the full court proceedings.
On Monday, the advocate for the South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef), Max du Plessis, in court advised that it would be bringing an application in opposition to this.
The court ruled that Sanef had until Friday to launch the application, and any opposing parties had until August 12 to state their reply, and August 17 has been reserved for Sanef to respond to any such opposition.
The spokesperson for Gumede’s supporters, Ntando Khuzwayo, speaking outside court, said on Monday’s delay came as no surprise.
“This matter has been postponed in perpetuity, and it’s still going to be postponed in perpetuity. The reason it was postponed last time was that there was a person who was unrepresented because they didn’t have funds. That person now has representation, they now have funds. So now it's a different person who doesn’t have funds. The next time we come here there’s going to be someone else who is not going to have funds because there are 22 accused in this matter and we are going to have the same problem.”
He said the accused were charged by their counsel every time they attended court.
“It's not free of charge. So looking at everything it seems like it will be postponed in perpetuity, uMama is ready with her legal team to proceed with the trial. Even today in court she did state through her counsel that she wants this trial to be separated so that her matter can proceed, because she is ready, and her legal team is ready.”
On Gumede’s political career and the impact of the trial on it, Khuzwayo said that Gumede was already suffering due to the step-aside resolution.
“Obviously if this cloud keeps hanging above her head then it has a huge impact on her political career.”
Daily News