Former minister Zizi Kodwa’s corruption case has been postponed once again to September 10.
The former minister and his co-accused, Jehan Mackay, the former EOH boss, appeared briefly in the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Wednesday.
The State rejected Mackay’s application to have the charges against him dropped in the corruption case where accused one, Mackay, is accused of paying Kodwa up to R1.6 million in kickbacks and luxury accommodation worth R1.6 million during his time as ANC national spokesperson between 2015 and 2016 in exchange for government tenders.
The pair were three months ago granted R30 000 bail each during their first court appearance in May.
After the rejection to have the charges dropped, Mackay’s attorney, Ian Small-Smith, said he had escalated the representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a decision.
Magistrate Philip Venter told the two accused their matter would be postponed to September 10 following the escalation of Mackay’s representations.
Venter said: “Thank you, gentlemen, the court will agree to postpone the matter until the 10th of September back to this court at 8.30am. This is to allow for the outcome of the escalated representations by accused number one.
“I am happy that the timelines that have been set are tight enough that we can make progress on this matter. The court extends your bail on the same conditions as before.”
NPA spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said: “The postponement for today was to enable accused number one to escalate his representation to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions after they were unsuccessful in the previous attempt when they went to the regional head of the commercial crimes unit seeking him to review the decision of the prosecutor.”
Speaking to members of the media outside court, Zola Majavu, who represents Kodwa, lamented the delay, saying it was prejudicing his client.
“We were ready on the last occasion, regardless of the answers given. We must appreciate that we are colleagues and accused number one also has the right to follow the processes that he is following. It is unfortunate that those processes and outcomes have a knock on effect on my client,” he said.
According to media reports, in 2020, the state capture commission heard that Kodwa allegedly received bribes paid by Mackay who was at the time an executive at technology group EOH Holdings.
The Star