KZN Hawks boss’s case delayed

ALL HOPE that the trial of suspended KwaZulu-Natal Hawks boss Major-General Johan Booysen and 25 co-accused would proceed swiftly in the coming year were dashed when the case against them was postponed again yesterday in the Durban High Court for the 13th time. Judge Shyam Gyanda postponed the matter on the agreement from both the State and the defence, to allow applications to have the racketeering charges declared null and void.The case was adjourned to September 29. Booysen and 25 other accused face a host of charges, ranging from corruption and racketeering to murder and attempted murder. Booysen and the other men, who were arrested and charged in 2012, have steadfastly denied the charges, in which the State claims that Booysen headed a criminal enterprise, which included paid hits carried out on members of the taxi industry. Booysen has already had the charges, which were initiated by then acting National Director of Public Prosecutions advocate Nomgcobo Jiba, thrown out of the Durban High Court by Judge Trevor Gorven in February 2014. But last year, the current National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, had them reinstated. – ANA