On Wednesday, at the Johannesburg specialised commercial crimes court, judgment was reserved on the application by Phahlane and former South African Police Service deputy national commissioner,, to have the combined 22 fraud and corruption charges against them struck off the court roll – on the grounds that the state failed to properly disclose the case docket to them.
, who allegedly doled out gifts such as a luxury BMW X5 to Mgwenya after his company received the contract. argued that the defence had struggled to open certain folders in the voluminous case docket that the state handed over in the form of an external hard drive, and that it took 10 months – from November 2020 when the trial was expected to begin – to get assistance.
“As of today, Accused 7 made not less than five attempts to get the case removed from the court roll. It is hard to not expect him to make another attempt to have the case removed from the court roll if he does not succeed in the instant attempt,” Chabalala said.