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Corruption charges against two senior KwaZulu-Natal government officials, Mike Mabuyakhulu and Peggy Nkonyeni, who were implicated in a multimillion-rand tender fraud in the Amigos case, might be revived if a court bid by the DA against the NPA succeeds. Photo: Terry Haywood
Durban – Corruption charges against two senior KwaZulu-Natal government officials, Mike Mabuyakhulu and Peggy Nkonyeni, who were implicated in a multimillion-rand tender fraud in the Amigos’ case, might be revived if a court bid by the DA against the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) succeeds.
The DA filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Monday to force the NPA to release its reasons for its decision to drop the charges against the MEC for Economic Affairs, Mabuyakhulu, and the KZN Legislature Speaker, Nkonyeni.
NPA spokesman Natasha Ramkisson said that the NPA could not comment as it was not aware of the court application.
The two leaders, six of their co-accused and three companies, had faced charges relating to the awarding of a R144 million tender for the purchase and hiring of water purification plants and oxygen generators to state hospitals.
They had been charged with racketeering, fraud, corruption and money laundering.
In August, the provincial director of public prosecutions, advocate Moipone Noko, announced that the charges were being withdrawn because of insufficient evidence.
In November, the charges were formally withdrawn in the Durban High Court against six of those charged, including Nkonyeni and Mabuyakhulu.
State prosecutor, Advocate Ncedile Dunywa, said the withdrawal of the charges was owing to lack of evidence, while the NPA claimed the decision was “confidential in its nature”.
But DA provincial leader Sizwe Mchunu said the decision to drop the charges was taken two weeks after Noko was appointed provincial NPA head, which raised questions about whether her appointment was political.
In November last year, the DA submitted a Public Access to Information Application to the NPA asking for the records leading to the withdrawal of the charges. The request was refused.
However, on Monday, the party took the matter a step further by filing a court application to have the reasons made public.
Mchunu said his party wanted to have the access to the records so that it could review them with an aim of re-instating the charges.
“There is a lot of unhappiness as people of KwaZulu-Natal want to know what happened to this matter. There seems to be new tendency of ANC leaders escaping going to court,” said Mchunu.
The DA’s KZN chairman Haniff Hoosen and MPL Johann Krog addressed the media after filing the court papers. The papers said the NPA had 15 days to release the records or to file opposing papers if it felt it was entitled to withhold the information. Krog said the fact that the NPA had initially taken the matter to court meant there was sufficient evidence to prosecute the two officials.
On Monday, Nkonyeni’s spokesman Wonder Hlongwa said the Speaker’s office had “no comment” and the matter was between the NPA and DA.
“We will have to watch developments,” said Hlongwa.
Mabuyakhulu’s spokesman Bheko Madlala said: “We wish to stress that the MEC, throughout the case, maintained his innocence.”
Others who were charged were former health department head Yoliswa Mbele, a businessman Lindelihle Mkhwanazi and lawyers Nozibele Phindela, Jabulani Thusi and Ian Blose, Uruguayan businessman Gaston Savoi, and companies Rowmoor Investments, Skyros Medical Suppliers and former Treasury head Sipho Shabalala.
The Mercury
