Port Elizabeth – The state closed its case on Monday in the Port Elizabeth Commercial Crimes court following a lengthy trial against Portia “Pankie” Sizani who is accused of defrauding the Eastern Cape Education Department out of more than R1.2 million by processing several fraudulent applications for Grade R teaching posts.
Sizani, the wife of ANC Chief Whip Stone Sizani, was the Early Childhood Development district co-ordinator at the time she allegedly appointed “ghost teachers”and pocketed their pay during 2009 and 2010.
The ECD provides for the appointment of Grade R teachers at Eastern Cape schools.
In 2014 she pleaded not guilty to 31 counts of fraud and money-laundering against her.
Sizani appeared in court on Monday and was accompanied by a group of women friends.
It emerged in court on Monday that five witnesses could not be traced and that these people appeared to have vanished.
The investigating officer, Warrant Officer Kobus Kotze, said that the trial was already underway when it emerged that there were additional affidavits.
“I recall one affidavit related to the case, the others I had not read,” he said.
Kotze further said there were at least five witnesses he had tried to trace to come testify at court.
Kotze said he checked police records, did ICT checks and checked previous addresses but these people had just “disappeared”.
He said a warrant of arrest was issued to one woman, but after that she just disappeared.
It addition, it also emerged in court that in excess of 100 affidavits were taken during the investigation, not all of which were handed over to the NPA as investigators deemed only some of the affidavits were relevant.
Defence Advocate Johan Wessels put it Kotze that a number of Grade R practitioners previously testified that they had submitted CVs, together with an application.
He questioned why these CVs were not included in the Special Investigating Unit file.
Kotze said that he could not comment on that and concluded that it was impossible to say what impact the additional documentation would have had as he never had insight into the additional affidavits.
The case was postponed until Tuesday when the court will make a ruling with regards to the admissibility of certain evidence.
African News Agency
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