Former eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede’s legal team continues to poke holes in the testimony of State witness, Mbuso Ngcobo.
Ngcobo is the head of the eThekwini Municipality’s Integrity Investigations Unit.
Gumede and 21 co-accused are facing over two thousand charges including racketeering and corruption, related to the awarding of an allegedly fraudulent Durban Solid Waste tender in 2017.
Gumede’s lawyer Advocate Jay Naidoo told the court that the unit’s investigation against his client was politically motivated.
He questioned the reasons that led to Ngcobo’s team not submitting the report of the investigation to the city manager.
“An essential of the defense accused 1,2,4,6,7 and 8 is that the entire investigation and the prosecution were premeditated and manipulated and politically motivated to bring about a particular result. The nature of the cross-examination will speak to the fact that this witness is either lying or acting under an instruction or influence of certain persons to further a political plot to discredit and have accused number one suspended,” said Naidoo.
The video below reports more on the Gumede story:
