The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) in KwaZulu-Natal says the state is ready to proceed with the trial of former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and 21 other accused in the Durban High Court.
They are facing charges including fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering in connection with an alleged irregular Durban Solid Waste tender in 2017.
The case was supposed to start on Monday but was adjourned to August.
The National Prosecuting Authority’s KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara says, “The state is very ready to proceed. We have been ready since February. Obviously, the pre-trial that was held last month [June], the state was all systems go. [However,] when we got to court we find out that some of the representatives for the accused were not there.”
“[They were] also not given funds to proceed given that, we had to adjourn the matter to next week for further pre-trial conference. Hopefully from now till then, the various attorneys that raised those issues would have ironed out the issues regarding funds and we will be able to proceed,” says Ramkisson-Kara.
SABC Reporter Vusi Khumalo spoke to Gumede’s supporters ahead of her court appearance on Monday:
