Final chance for State to serve indictment in Kimberley mental hospital corruption trial

THE STATE has been given until February 17 to serve the final indictment in the long-running Kimberley Mental Health Hospital trial.

The accused – Patience Mokhali, John Block, Tshegolekae Motaung, Lourencia Crause, Louis Adriaan van Niekerk, Winston Moyahi, Edward Charles Petzer, Motlalepula Elias Selemela and Ruth Palm – appeared in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court this week.

They face charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering and contraventions of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA).

The cost of completing construction of the hospital ballooned from an initial R290 million to more than R2 billion.

The legal representative for Motaung and Babereki Consulting Engineers, Advocate Lerato Moelo – who represented escaped convicted murderer and Facebook serial rapist Thabo Bester – argued that the State should reimburse the accused for their legal fees due to its “lackadaisical conduct”.

He further submitted that the accused were being subjected to a “malicious prosecution”.

The legal representative for Crause, Van Niekerk, Moyahi and Petzer, Herholdt Robertson, urged that the matter be removed from the roll, arguing that the State was not trial-ready two years down the line.

“We have yet to receive the final indictment. My clients have a right to a speedy trial. They are prejudiced as they are unable to work,” he said.

Robertson added that the charges dated back to 2003, with some documents having “gone missing”.

“The docket has 100,000 pages. Previous requests to investigate undue delays were simply ignored,” he said.

The legal representative for Block, Lulama Lobi, said that while his client had not brought a similar application, he also objected to the undue delays.

“The matter must be struck off the roll and the State can reinstate it once it is ready. Apart from the known delays, there are also unknown delays of unknown duration,” he said.

Lobi added that the trial could not proceed while an application to have the matter struck off the roll was still pending.

The State indicated that it intended to seek a postponement until February 17 to amend the indictment and transfer the matter to the Northern Cape High Court.

State Advocate Naome Manaka, from the Specialised Commercial Crimes Unit, said the indictment was between 90% and 95% complete.

“We only need to finalise administrative issues and make possible amendments. The State was so shocked when the defence brought the application. There was no objection after three tentative dates were discussed for the Northern Cape High Court,” she said.

Manaka stated that the State had to wait for the outcome of the mental observation of Petzer, 89, before proceeding with the trial.

“Petzer was found capable of understanding the proceedings and able to distinguish between right and wrong,” she said.

She warned that granting a permanent stay of prosecution would mean the “end of the trial”.

She added that the accused were also responsible for some of the delays, citing illness and changes in legal representation.

She recommended that the trial be allowed to proceed in the Northern Cape High Court while the application to have the matter struck off the roll was being deliberated.

Magistrate Lance Roach postponed the matter until February 17.