Nelson Mandela Bay city manager Noxolo Nqwazi.
Photo: Lulama Zenzile
- The presiding officer in the fraud trial of Nelson Mandela Bay city manager Noxolo Nqwazi and her co-accused refused to recuse herself on Thursday.
- The defence brought the application last month on the grounds magistrate Vusiwe Mnyani was biased towards them.
- But the magistrate said her intentions were misunderstood.
The magistrate presiding over the fraud and corruption trial of Nelson Mandela Bay city manager Noxolo Nqwazi and her co-accused refused to recuse herself on Thursday, saying her intentions were misunderstood.
The recusal application was brought last month on the grounds magistrate Vusiwe Mnyani was biased against the defence and lenient on the State.
Nqwazi and 11 others are on trial in the Gqeberha Specialised Commercial Crimes Court on charges of fraud, money laundering, corruption, and contravening the Municipal Finance Management Act.
It is alleged they bypassed certain processes to award a R24.6 million tender.
The defence criticised Mnyani’s handling of the trial, claiming she allowed the State to continuously ask for adjournments due to outstanding documents that still have not been provided to them.
Delivering her judgment on Thursday, Mnyani said her intentions have always been to protect the accused and ensure they have a fair trial.
Therefore, she added, she allowed the State the adjournments.
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“I did not want the trial to continue without the outstanding documents because it is in the interest of fairness for the accused that all documents are before court when a trial takes place,” Mnyani said.
“It is unfortunate that my intentions to protect the accused were misunderstood as bias against them.”
She referred to a court order issued last month for the State to have all documents ready so the trial could continue.
Mnyani said she disagreed with the claim made in the application the State did not comply with the court order.
“I understand that the documents were quite voluminous and technical glitches were experienced when the files were sent,” Mnyani said.
She added:
Adjournments had to be given to sort out this issue because I had no idea which documents the State would need for their arguments. I do not believe the State was deliberately attempting to withhold documents.
Mnyani said she had to mention none of these issues were raised in the pre-trail conference.
Instead, the first witness had already started testifying and in the middle of it, the defence said they did not have all the documents.
“It must also be mentioned that I allowed the trial to continue, and other witnesses were questioned while we waited for the outstanding documents.”
Mnyani added the application did not succeed in proving any bias on her part and dismissed it.
The case was postponed to 31 October.
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Nqwazi’s co-accused are three former DA councillors – Trevor Louw, Victor Manyathi and Neville Higgins – as well as businessman Xolani Masela and his wife, Nwabisa Masela, her mother, Nompumezo Ngotsha, HT Pelatona Projects director Morné van der Linde, former ANC regional secretary in the metro Luyolo Nqakula and the former acting executive director of human settlements, Mvuleni Mapu.
Ngotsha and Van der Linde also face charges on behalf of their companies, Thuthiko Logistics and HT Pelatona Projects, respectively.
Nqwazi has been making headlines in recent months after Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana asked the metro’s council to take disciplinary action against her.
Her removal was one of the conditions to disburse more than R700 million in Equitable Share Grant funding owed to the municipality since July.
The money has since been paid, on condition that Nqwazi goes.
Last Wednesday, a special council meeting was held to discuss her possible removal.
However, the matter was rolled over to the next council meeting on 12 October.
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