Former ANC provincial chairperson John Block, who is in custody at Upington Correctional Centre, will appear in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court in person when he applies for bail on August 1.
FORMER ANC provincial chairperson John Block, who is in custody at Upington Correctional Centre, will appear in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court in person when he applies for bail on August 1.
Block appeared via a video link while his co-accused, the former HOD for the Northern Cape Department of Transport, Roads and Public Works, Patience Mercia Mokhali, 60, and the director of Babereki Consulting Engineers CC, Tshegolekae Motaung, 59, made an appearance in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on July 11.
The court was packed to capacity, while a group of Block’s supporters had travelled from Upington to attend the court proceedings.
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The State alleges that Babereki Consulting Engineers CC was fraudulently awarded a R51 million tender as a structural civil engineer and project manager for the Kimberley Mental Health Hospital construction project in 2003 by the provincial Department of Transport, Roads and Public Works.
The accused are facing several charges including fraud, corruption, money laundering, contravention of the Engineering Professions Act and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act.
The construction costs of the facility ballooned from R290 million to over R2.1 billion and work took 14 years to complete
Block was the MEC for Transport, Roads and Public Works and ANC provincial chairperson at the time.
He is currently serving a 15-year sentence for corruption and money laundering relating to multimillion-rand leases that were entered into with the Trifecta group of companies for government offices.
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State prosecutor advocate Lentswe Setouto indicated that the Kimberley mental hospital trial would be transferred to the Northern Cape High Court.
He told the court that the docket was so voluminous that he had joked to the defence that they would “need a truck to get it all in”.
“The docket is 106,247 pages long, while 930 pages still need to be sorted out. This does not include the forensic report and a report from the Department of Health that is still outstanding. There are 15,000 building plans in total that still need to be divided into A0, A1 and A3 sizes.”
Setouto added that the Directorate for Priority Crimes Investigation (the Hawks) was engaging with a forensic auditors firm to assist in the proper filing and pagination of documents.
“It would be impossible to have so many documents available in the next four weeks.”
The legal representative for Mokhali and Motaung, Herholdt Robertson, stated that his clients’ names had been “splashed” all over the national news headlines.
“They have been subject to negative publicity and their faces are all over social media. Motaung’s business is suffering. He belongs to Consulting Engineers of South Africa (CESA) – a society of professional engineers and they are considering removing his membership. We are unable to give an explanation as to why he was arrested and charged without the docket. The defence cannot adequately prepare for the trial if there is no charge sheet,” said Robertson.
He argued that the charges against his clients should be struck off the roll.
“I sent two letters to the Director of Public Prosecutions on May 20 and June 29 requesting copies of the docket and did not even receive proof of acknowledgement. My clients have a right to a speedy trial. They have not been served with a summons and no trial dates have been set.”
He pointed out that the State had ample time to prepare for the trial.
“Since documents were seized from Motaung around 2016, nothing has happened; and 20 years passed before any arrests were made. The State had ample opportunity to investigate the charges and make copies. My clients are not going anywhere, the matter can be reinstated once the State is ready for trial.”
The legal representative for Block, advocate Rolivhuwa Nelwamondo, objected to an application by the SABC to record and broadcast the court proceedings.
He accused the media of causing unnecessary sensation and anxiety for his client’s wife and children.
“The matter was to join Block to the case and postpone the case, which is not newsworthy. A proper application can be made when the trial starts.”
Nelwamondo added that it was in the interest of justice to release his client on bail.
“He is in custody for a previous conviction.”
Magistrate Oswald Krieling stated that the application to have the matter struck off the roll or provide a trial date was premature.
“Block will still apply for bail. The State has indicated that it would require a special machine in order to make copies and make use of a service provider to sort the files. The State needs to finalise their investigation. It would be impossible to provide the indictment.”
Krieling recognised the “watchdog” role of the media and the right to freedom of the press.
The case was postponed until August 10 for further investigations.
Krieling stated that Block would have to apply for bail in person in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court on August 1 as automatic video recordings could only be used for remands and not for bail hearings.
