Ndebele case may be dropped

THE corruption case against former transport minister S’bu Ndebele is likely to be dropped after intervention by President Jacob Zuma‚ the City Press said yesterday.

The newspaper cited three sources‚ who said that Zuma had appointed a senior to mediate between Ndebele and prosecutors after Ndebele had complained to the president about political interference in his case.

City Press said documents had revealed that there had been great haste to arrest Ndebele in 2015.

“E-mails and an investigating officer’s diary reveal how National Director of Public Prosecutions Shaun Abrahams‚ Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) chief executive Makhosini Msibi‚ the Special Investigating Unit and the Hawks’ anti-corruption task team head Major-General Zinhle Mnonopi put pressure on the prosecutor and investigating officer to rush Ndebele’s arrest‚” the newspaper reported.

It is believed the arrest was key in firming up a civil case against the company Tasima.

Tasima has been caught in a legal battle with RTMC‚ which wants Tasima to hand over a multimillion-rand contract to manage RTMC’s Electronic National Administration Traffic Information System (eNatis).

Ndebele is accused of taking a R10-million bribe in exchange for fixing tenders.

The Presidency denied that Zuma had intervened to save Ndebele.

“The allegations . . . that President Jacob Zuma had asked for an intervention in the case faced by the former Minister of Transport Mr S’bu Ndebele are totally false and without foundation‚” it said in a statement.