By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The corruption case against former sports, arts, and culture minister Zizi Kodwa and his co-accused has been postponed to 21 August 2024.
This comes after a brief court appearance at the Palm Ridge Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on Tuesday.
Following their arrest on suspicion of state capture, the former minister, who had resigned with immediate effect in June, and businessman Jehan Mackay, were both released on R30,000 bail.
Kodwa has been given a list of witnesses with whom he is not permitted to speak. And his attorney, Advocate Zola Majavu, told the court that he will make sure he avoids them.
“Your worship will note that if you peruse the charge sheet, there was an inscription made by your learned sister. [This] with regards to one of the conditions with specific reference to the contact of certain state witnesses.”
At that stage of the bail application, the state had not yet disclosed to us who its intended witnesses are. This in respect of which an order could be made for non-contact,” he said.
“We agreed that the effectiveness of that order will only kick in once the state provides us with the list of those witnesses. And I can confirm that subsequent to the bail application, the state did provide us with the list of six witnesses. We now know who those witnesses are. And on behalf of my client, we will not be in touch with them,”Majavu added.
Kodwa was charged over allegations that he accepted bribes totalling about R1.7 million from EOH.
In 2020, the commission of inquiry into State Capture heard that Kodwa allegedly received money paid by Mackay, who was then an executive of South Africa’s largest technology group, EOH Holdings.
ENS Forensics managing director Steven Powell claimed Kodwa received the money in eight payments from Mackay.
When the report came out in April 2022, it strongly recommended that President Cyril Ramaphosa should consider Kodwa’s then position as deputy minister in the Presidency responsible for State Security.
“The commission accordingly recommends that the president considers the position of Kodwa as deputy minister of state security. Having regard to the fact that Kodwa appears to find himself in a position where he is beholden by Jehan Mackay, the report stated.
“Kodwa is beholden by Jehan Mackay, to whom he owes more than R1.7m. On his own version. This is a debt which he cannot immediately repay.”
National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwane said the NPA has been ready to proceed with the trial and when the matter was enrolled they were in a position to disclose the contents of the dockets.
“The accused are within their rights to exercise recourse mechanisms. Accused No 1’s [Kodwa] lawyer indicated they will use the time provided by the court to decide whether they will bring representations.”
She added the NPA hoped it would be in a position to deal with the interlocutory applications before the trial but it was to proceed with the trial. The court also ordered Kodwa and Mackay to not interact with or contact the witnesses.