Court grants Mosebenzi Zwane, co-accused R10k bail
Former mineral resources minister Mosebenzi Zwane has been released on a R10 000 bail in his fraud and corruption case.
Zwane appeared in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on Wednesday, along with former Sahara employee Ugeshni Govender.
Together with the former director of Islandsite Ronica Ragavan they also face charges of theft and money laundering.
The charges relate to the Vrede dairy farm scandal where R280 million was budgeted for the Estina Dairy farm project, which was meant to empower local farmers but ended up in the pockets of the Gupta brothers.
Zwane was Free State Agriculture MEC at the time of the deal.
The head of the NPA's Investigating Directorate Andrea Johnson says the investigations have revealed that the entire Vrede Dairy Project was designed to extract funds from the state.
"The enrolment of this case demonstrates the commitment of the ID to deal with perpetrators of state capture, the Vrede Dairy Project destroyed the lives of the people and communities it was supposed to empower and uplift.
"The enrollment of the matter is a step closer to delivering justice to the people who were alleged to have been prejudiced by the criminal conduct of the accused."
He is still an ANC MP and heads up Parliament's transport committee.
The commission of inquiry into state capture recommended a criminal investigation into Zwane, and former Free State premier Ace Magashule, in relation to the Vrede scandal.
The case has been postponed to 2 November.
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