Former Free State agriculture MEC Mosebenzi Zwane appearing before the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court along with former Gupta employees, Ronica Ragavan and Ugeshni Govender. Picture: Supplied.
ANC MP and the chairperson of parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Transport, Mosebenzi Zwane, has been released on bail of R10 000.
Zwane, a former minister of mineral resources and energy and MEC in the Free State, appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday morning following his arrest on corruption charges related to the controversial Estina dairy farm project.
He was arrested after handing himself over to police along with former Gupta employees, Ugeshni Govender and Ronica Ragavan.
Govender was also granted bail of R10 000.
The State did not oppose Zwane and Govender’s release on bail as the interests of justice did not require their further detention while they await trial.
Ragavan was warned to appear again in court in November when the case resumes because she was previously arrested over the Estina dairy farm project back in 2018.
In his bail arguments, Zwane’s lawyer said he was not a flight risk and requested that he be released on bail of R10 000. His lawyer also informed the court that the MP intended to plead not guilty to the charges against him.
The trio faces charges of fraud, theft, money laundering and corruption in connection with the Estina dairy farm project in the Free State, where more than R200 million of public funds that were meant to empower black farmers were looted.
Zwane was the MEC for agriculture and rural development in the province at the time of the project.
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The dairy project has been embroiled in allegations of state capture after it emerged that it was a front for money laundering and the source of funds for the Guptas’ lavish wedding at Sun City resort in 2013.
The spokesperson for the NPA’s Investigating Directorate, Sindisiwe Seboka, said a total of 15 people were implicated in the case and more arrests were expected.
The case has been postponed to 2 November 2022.
Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, who chaired the state capture commission, recommended that law enforcement agencies investigate suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and Zwane to establish whether they contravened any law in the roles they played in the Estina dairy farm project.
Magashule was the premier of the Free State at the time of the project.
The commission found that all role players in the project did the bidding of the Gupta family without any care for public funds or poor residents who should have benefited from the dairy farm project, as Zwane had promised them.
“Consideration must be given to seeking legal advice about instituting legal proceedings against Mosebenzi Zwane and Ace Magashule to recover such monies as may be recovered from them that were lost by the department of agriculture and rural development in the Vrede Dairy Project as a result of their failure on their part to perform their legal obligations,” Zondo said in his final state capture report.
The Gupta brothers, accused of being the architects of the country’s biggest corruption scandal of state capture, were arrested in the United Arab Emirates earlier this year by Interpol.
Rajesh ‘Tony’ and his brother Atul Gupta were nabbed for the R24.9 million Nulane Investment fraud and money laundering case.
The South African government had been in talks with the UAE for the extradition of the brothers so they can stand trial on fraud charges.
Additional reporting by Getrude Makhafola
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