State needs more time in Intaka case
ply chain management at the same department, Sanjay Mittah, made an appearance in court yesterday.
Kimberley magistrate, Roland Birch, extended bail and held over the warrants for the arrest of the other accused – former ANC provincial chairman John Block, Dr Gaston Savoi, Fernando Praderi and Savoi’s personal assistant, Alicia Marcos, until their next court appearance on November 28.
State Advocate Hannes Cloete apologised to the court for not completing the consolidation of the charges and for not being ready to transfer the matter to the Northern Cape High Court, as intended by yesterday’s deadline.
“I could not find the time to get everything ready. There will be no prejudice to any of the accused if the matter is postponed by another three months, as we are not in a position to set a date for the trial until the matter in KwaZulu Natal is dealt with.”
He added that the application for a permanent stay of prosecution in KwaZulu Natal, which was scheduled to be heard in June, did not proceed. The application was brought forward by accused Savoi and Praderi of Intaka Holdings in 2010.
Cloete explained that the state had drafted an indictment and submitted an application to the national office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions to issue a certificate for the racketeering charge as well as the centralisation of the charges on August 5.
“The National Prosecuting Authority did not have any objections to this request. The national office informed us that three months would be sufficient to process the application and make a decision.”
Cloete requested the court to withdraw charges against the former head of ministry at the Department of Health, Deon Madyo, following his death in May.
Legal representative for Savoi and Praderi and the Intaka group of companies, Francois van Zyl SC, indicated that the defence team that was dealing with the permanent stay of prosecution had questioned the basis for the withdrawal of charges against the former MEC for Health Minister in KwaZulu Natal, Peggy Nkonyeni, and former ANC KZN Provincial Treasurer, Mike Mabuyakhulu.
Van Zyl stated that the state had refused to make these documents available to the defence.
“The defence has brought an application to disclose this information on November 28. If the application is successful, we will file affidavits to proceed in KZN.”
The legal representatives for the accused had no objections to the postponement of the case and indicated that an agreement had been made with the state to allow their clients to appear in absentia yesterday.