Durban - ANC KwaZulu-Natal task team convener and former Economic Development MEC for KwaZulu-Natal Mike Mabuyakhulu appeared in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court, alongside several others, on charges of corruption, fraud, theft and money laundering on Wednesday morning.
The charges relate to R28 million which the KZN government in around 2012 forked out for a music concert - the North Sea Jazz Festival - that never took place.
Mabuyakhulu apparently handed himself over to police on Wednesday morning before appearing before a magistrate.
He appeared alongside several other people and several more were not in court.
Mabuyakhulu is leading KZN’s interim provincial task team, set up after the National Executive Committee suspended the KZN the party's provincial executive committee following a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling last year that it was illegitimate.
He was also last month said to be contesting the position of ANC chairperson in KZN when an elective conference is held.
And this not the first time Mabuyakhulu has found himself on the wrong side of the law.
He was previously charged alongside several other high profile politicians and businessmen, for racketeering, corruption and money laundering.
But charges against Mabuyakhulu, the then MEC of Economic Development - and some of the others - were subsequently withdrawn, under a cloud of controversy.