Former eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede's Corruption Trial Postponed Until July 2022
- The multi-million-rand corruption case against former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her 20 co-accused has been postponed for a year
- The group are accused of being involved in a shady waste contract issued by the eThekwini Municipality in 2017
- Gumede and her accused are facing charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering with an additional charge added to the court roll
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The trial of disgraced former eThekwini mayor Zandile Gumede and her 20 co-accused was today postponed to July next year by the Durban High Court.
The group find themselves in hot water over alleged fraud, corruption and money laundering linked to a R320 million waste contract issued by the eThekwini Municipality in 2017 while Gumede was mayor.
Source: Getty Images
Gumede's co-accused include suspended eThekwini city manager Sipho Nzuza; former supply chain manager Sandile Ngcobo; and former eThekwini Municipality senior employee Robert Abbu, among others.
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State prosecutor Ashika Lucken said there have been amendments made to the indictment served on the suspects, according to IOL. Lucken did not specify the indictment but Gumede's lawyer, Jay Naidoo, is said to have stated that the prosecution added racketeering charges.
Trial to lag but pre-trial to be heard soon
The court has set a possible trial date for 18 July next year. TimesLives reported that the pretrial hearing could not proceed due to a request for further particulars and changes in the defence teams.
“The Zandile Gumede matter has been adjourned to November 30 for further particulars and pretrial,” said National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Sipho Ngwema.
“Some of the accused changed legal teams, which resulted in the court being unable to deal with pretrial management issues.”
Rallying support present at postponed hearing
Gumede seemed to receive a great deal of support at the Durban High Court before the matter was postponed. A large group of ANC supporters showed up outside the court dressed in full party regalia.
Later, the large group took to singing and chanting near the court precinct ahead of the adjournment. Social media support was not absent as others took to Twitter to make known their unwavering allegiance to the embattled ex-mayor.
@themankhosi posted:
@Andile_Ndosi shared a video of the supporters bursting out in song:
Corruption accused former mayor returns as KZN MPL
Despite having been implicated in corruption, former eThekwini mayor, Zandile Gumede, is officially an honourable member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature. Briefly News reported previously that the ANC politician was, at the time, sworn in as an ANC MPL.
She replaced the late MPL Ricardo Mthembu, who passed away from Covid-19 complications in June last year.
Gumede was removed as mayor by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal after she was accused of corruption and is embroiled in an ongoing corruption case alongside 20 others.
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Source: Briefly News
