‘Ready to proceed,’ says NPA as Bongani Bongo, co-accused corruption trial postponed

The trial of former State Security Minister Bongani Bongo and 11 other people has been postponed to next week.

Bongo and his co-accused – including his former wife Sandile Nkosi and brother Sipho Joel Bongo – made a brief appearance in Mbombela Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday.

They have been charged with 69 counts of fraud, corruption, theft and contravening the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) in connection to the purchase of two farms dating back to 2011 when Bongo was an official in the Mpumalanga government.

Companies implicated in the matter include the Little River Trading 156 (Pty) Ltd, Broad Market Trading 204 (Pty) Ltd, Bongiveli CC and Pfuka Afrika CC.

Ready to proceed

The case was adjourned until 16 November after the state requested a postponement due to one of the accused getting a new lawyer.

“It only transpired in court today that one of the suspects has changed their legal representative so what they requested is for us as the state to disclose further particulars for him in order to prepare for the trial,” National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) Mpumalanga spokesperson Monica Nyuswa told the media outside the court on Tuesday.

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While Bongo has expressed his frustration over the delay, Nyuswa said the state was prepared for the trial to move forward.

“The state has been ready since March this year and we are still ready to proceed with the trial. We have various state witnesses who are lined up to testify during the trial.

“So all I can say is that the state is ready to proceed and we still believe [the accused] have a case to answer,” she said.

Kickbacks

Bongo, who is out on R10 000 bail, and his co-accused allegedly conspired to inflate the value of two farms bought on behalf of two local municipalities by the provincial Department of Human Settlements in exchange for kickbacks.

It was alleged that the Msukaligwa Municipality bought a Rietspruit farm in Ermelo worth R10.5 million, which was then sold for about R36.4 million.

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In the second deal, a 74.2 hectare farm at Naauwpoort worth R15 million, bought on behalf of eMalahleni Municipality, was allegedly sold for R37.5 million.

The farm owners were said to have been paid less than the amount agreed to by the department, with the rest of the money allegedly split between the accused.

According to the NPA, Bongo – who was arrested in 2020 – was “the key player in the two land deals”.

Charges dropped

In a separate matter, Bongo was cleared of corruption charges after Western Cape High Court Judge President John Hlophe granted his discharge application in February 2021.

The case related to allegations that Bongo had attempted to bribe advocate Ntuthuzelo Vanara, the evidence leader for Parliament’s Eskom 2017 inquiry.

Vanara accused Bongo of asking him to fake an illness and take sick leave because the inquiry could not proceed in his absence.

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