AFTER almost two years of back-and-forth court appearances and the possibility of the matter being struck off the roll, the State is finally ready to proceed with the case against former eThekwini mayor, Zandile Gumede and several high profile officials within the municipality.
Today, the National Prosecuting Authority said the matter has been transferred to the Durban High Court for a pre-trial conference on June 14.
Gumede was arrested on raft of charges, including fraud, corruption and racketeering, relating to an apparent dodgy R400 million Durban Solid Waste tender.
Her co-accused in the matter includes city manager Sipho Nzuza and other top officials and councillors and are accused of inflating the contract from R25m to more than R400m.
They also face allegations of allegedly splitting the contract between four companies that did not have any waste removal experience or infrastructure by manipulating the award process.
Timeline of events
August 2016: Gumede was elected as eThekwini municipality mayor, taking over from James Nxumalo.
May 2019: Gumede was arrested on charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering.
January 2020: Gumede took to social media to question her arrest. She shared screengrabs from her phone on Twitter. She also said she believed her arrest was done to tarnish her name.
August 2020: Gumede was sworn in as an MPL in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature. She took the place of Ricardo Mthembu who passed away in July.
December 2020: Gumede's legal representative threatened to apply for the case to be struck off the roll, accusing the State of dragging its feet.
March 2021: Gumede and her co-accused appear in the Durban Commercial Crimes Court and are informed that the matter has been transferred to the Durban High Court for pre-trial.
The accused are due back in court in June.
POLITICAL BUREAU