The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) will study the judgment delivered by the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, which discharged eight accused persons and two business entities.
The accused were indicted for alleged corruption and money-laundering relating to the awarding of a contract for building 2 000 permanent toilets at a cost of R24.6 million as a COVID-19 dedensification measure in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan Municipality (NMBM).
According to The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali, the State also welcomes the court’s refusal to discharge suspended NMBM City Manager Noxolo Nqwazi and the metro’s former acting executive director of Human Settlements, Mvuleni Norman Mapu. They face charges of fraud and contravention of Section 173 of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA).
Tyali said their case has been postponed to 1 April, to allow their attorney to take instructions about the way forward.
He noted that the NPA respects the court’s decision and will study the judgment and its reasoning in detail.
“This process will inform the State’s next steps in the matter, in line with prosecutorial policy and applicable legal processes,” he explained.
“The charges emanate from an investigation by the DPCI (the Hawks) into allegations of fraud, contraventions of the MFMA, corruption and money laundering linked to the procurement of services for the construction of permanent toilets during the COVID-19 State of Disaster in 2020.”
Tyali added that the SIU ran a parallel investigation into the same allegations and managed to stop some of the alleged payments by the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality.
“Before the State closed its case, it led more than ten witnesses from the Metro and submitted several exhibits of documentary evidence pertaining to the fraud and procurement charges,” he said.
The NPA spokesperson reiterated the authority’s commitment to prosecuting complex commercial crime and corruption matters, particularly those involving public funds and emergency procurement processes.
“Every matter is assessed on its merits, and the NPA remains guided by the evidence, the law and the interests of justice,” Tyali concluded.
