Zandile Gumede during her inauguration of eThekwini Mayor at the Durban City Hall on 23 August 2016 in Durban, South Africa. Photo: Gallo Images/The Times/Jackie Clausen
Zandile Gumede’s R400 million corruption case postponed to December
Supporters of the former mayor maintain that the charges against Gumede are politically motivated
Zandile Gumede during her inauguration of eThekwini Mayor at the Durban City Hall on 23 August 2016 in Durban, South Africa. Photo: Gallo Images/The Times/Jackie Clausen
The corruption case against former eThekwini Mayor Zandile Gumede faces yet another delay, as the matter has been postponed to 10 December 2020.
Gumede and 16 others appeared before the Durban Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday, 10 September 2020, to face charges over a waste collection tender worth R430 million.
She was arrested in 2019 and subsequently released on R50 000 bail.
Her lawyers had approached the courts, seeking to have the matter against her struck off the roll. The prosecution in the case had sought a postponement, saying it needed to finalise a forensic report.
Gumede spoke to IOL ahead of her court appearance and expressed her frustration with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), mainly over how it was dragging its feet in the matter.
“It’s been a year and a half now, I have been patiently waiting for my charges. I suggest they rather go back and thoroughly do their work. Then they can arrest me again. But for now, they are really destroying my image and the image of our glorious movement (the ANC) for sweet nothing,” Gumede said.
“I have grown tired of making endless and futile trips to court. This is taking a heavy toll on me and I wonder who I provoked to get this treatment”
Gumede supporter: ‘It’s a malicious process’
Supporters of the former mayor gathered outside the court, following the decision, and also lashed out over the matter being delayed, once again.
“In January this year, there were attempts to assist the prosecutorial team to assist this matter to get into roll, which means it should have been prepared for trial. We must note again that the last postponement that was given on 16 July, it did make an indication that when the defence team is not satisfied…,” Dube told the SABC.
With the matter having taken close to 18 months, Dube said they were witnessing an abuse of power and maintains that the charges have been manufactured.
“We know for a fact that there was no case that was presented in the form of an allegation or in the form of an ongoing allegation. So it’s a malicious process which has taken longer than a year”, he further said.
In early August, Gumede was sworn in as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, replacing Ricardo Mthembu, the former Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) portfolio committee chairperson who died from COVID-19 in July.
