Kodwa, MacKay graft case postponed to next Friday
The case against former minister Zizi Kodwa and his co-accused, former Enterprise Outsourcing Holdings director Jehan MacKay, has been postponed to next Friday to determine the outcome of representations.
The duo faces charges related to claims that Kodwa received gratifications amounting to more than R1.6 million in return for his influence over multi-million IT tenders for the government.
Kodwa and MacKay appeared briefly before the Specialised Commercial Crimes Court in Palm Ridge on Thursday morning.
Three weeks ago, during Kodwa’s last appearance, his legal counsel, Zola Majavu, expressed his discontent over the continuous delays.
However, Magistrate Phillip Venter said that he could not rule out the possibility of further postponements in case new information is presented in court.
"I take note of the request by Mr. Cordwell that the court should consider marking this a final remand for the purposes of the outcome of their presentations. Whenever an application is made for a remand, the court has to assess whether there is good justification provided to the court from the applicants in order for you to grab a remand.
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"I have to weigh that up against the time that we're going to have to postpone the matter for, and the prejudice suffered by not only yourselves but also by the states and their witnesses that are all awaiting their opportunity to testify in court, so there's a magnitude of issues that I have to weigh up every time a postponement request is made. A postponement request is not just there for the taking.
"It has to be motivated, now. Part of my assessment is, and that is from a case-flow-management perspective. I'm satisfied, thus far, that every time I've heard a remand application, progress is being made quickly. I cannot see that there have been any undue delays at this stage.
"It may happen that before the 1st of November, your legal representatives may get a communication from the DPP's office requesting certain further information from you, and that information may materially affect the outcome of that representation, even favouring you, which may cause another remand to be granted by the court."
Venter added that he is not in the habit of marking postponements final.
"There may be good justification to mark it, to postpone it again, which means I have to mark it final, and then final, and possibly final again. It depends on the motivation behind the applicant for the remand, so that is why I'm not going to agree to making it final, but every time an application is brought for a postponement, I apply my mind, and I assess it on the merits, whether such an application is justified or not, be assured of that.”
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