Mdluli blamed for trial delays
IT IS more than a decade since former crime intelligence boss Richard Mdluli was arrested on charges of fraud, corruption and theft relating to an SAPS secret slush fund.
Yet the trial has yet to get under way, and Mdluli is, according to the State, mostly to blame for the delay.
The investigative directorate said in an affidavit before the North Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, that his constant failure to appear in court and his numerous interlocutory applications were resulting in the matter dragging on.
It was also unfair for his co-accused, Heine Barnard and Solomon Lazarus, who had appeared in court numerous times only to have the matter postponed time and again.
The trio appeared in court yet again yesterday, where Judge Papi Mosopa was due to hear two applications – one by the State and the other by Mdluli’s co-accused – for the judge to put his foot down against further delays and to order that the trial proceed as soon as possible.
It is stated in an affidavit by Mark McLean of the Priority Crime Investigation Unit of the SAPS that this matter had been dragging its heels for 11 years, and had a long litigation history.
One of the consequences of the long delay is that one of the State witnesses and his family have had to remain under the witness protection programme since 2011.
To date, he has not yet taken the stand, and the accused have not even pleaded to the array of charges against them.
McLean said the previous delays in the matter could be attributed to various reasons; it was submitted that the delays since October 2020 could only be attributed to Mdluli.
This included that he applied for legal funding from the police, as he said the charges relate to a time when he was in their employ.
The police have refused his application, saying that the charges he faced had nothing to do with them.
The Mdluli camp subsequently mentioned that it would take the SAPS’s refusal for review before the court, but to date no such application has been filed.
Mdluli’s refusal of Mdluli to pitch at court on several occasions also caused delays.
Judge Bert Bam, who is now retired but who hd previously handled this matter, had to issue a warrant for Mdluli’s arrest (although he was in jail) before Mdluli eventually showed up in court.
The application yesterday before Judge Mosopa to rule that no further unreasonable delays will be tolerated has been postponed to June 20.