Bail application of accused in Mpumalanga Education graft resumes

The suspects arrested for defrauding the Mpumalanga Education Department of millions of rand are expected to continue their bail application in the Nelspruit Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.
The 28 accused appeared in court on Monday.
Five of them, including two government officials, Absalom Thela and Ruth Khoza, were granted bail of R 50 000 and R 5000 respectively.
The accused defrauded the department of over R113 million meant for emergency repairs at 21 schools during the 2019-2020 financial year.
Provincial Hawks Head Nico Gerber says, “There will be an additional three people that will be appearing in the court. We have 40 individuals that will be arrested and will appear before court.”
“There are 17 entities which is coupled to those bodies, so that makes it then 57 people or companies. Then there’s 21 directors, which are then also associated with those entities.”
Gerber adds: “The charge sheet will differ vastly from just a fraud and a corruption charge. There’s money laundering charges, there’s PRECCA (Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act) charges, so there will be a lot more charges that will be levelled against some of the accused.”
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