The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) has been battling for more than 10 years to get the case against Richard Mdluli and his co-accused Heine Barnard (former Crime Intelligence supply chain manager) and Solomon Lazarus (former chief financial officer of the State Security Agency) to the point where they will plead to the charges they face.

Mdluli and his co-accused face 15 charges of fraud, corruption and contravening the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act for allegedly looting Crime Intelligence’s secret service account between 2008 and 2012.

The case was first registered in 2011. The NPA has been battling since then to get the matter to pre-trial so that a trial date can be set.

It seems like the long wait could finally be over. On Tuesday, the matter was scheduled for the Gauteng High Court in order to provide Mdluli with an opportunity to respond to the pre-trial agenda. He was also meant to update the court on the progress of the review application by his former employee (the SA Police Service) to fund his legal fees.

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

NPA Investigative Directorate spokesperson Sindisiwe Seboka said: “The matter has been postponed to 6 February 2023 for pre-trial purposes.”

This means all outstanding issues have been sorted out between the State and the lawyers for the accused. At the next appearance, the State is expected to provide the defence with all relevant documents relating to the matter. A trial date will then be set.

Other damning allegations against Mdluli include funds spent on private trips to Singapore and China, the leasing of Mdluli’s private residence to the state to pay his bond, and the personal use of witness protection property.

A report in Daily Maverick describes the indictment against Mdluli as indicating “it was a friends and family affair down at his division, filled with travel, luxury homes, cars and clothes – all at the taxpayers’ expense”. 

In June this year, the Gauteng High Court ordered a pre-trial to be held on 20 September. At that appearance, the matter was postponed to 11 October.

The delays also resulted in the Gauteng High Court hearing an application brought by the Investigative Directorate for unreasonable delays.

The news that the fraud and corruption trial against Mdluli and his co-accused will finally get under way comes five months after Mdluli was released on parole on 5 June on unrelated charges. 

Mdluli and his co-accused Mthembeni Mthunzi were sentenced to five years in prison in September 2020 for kidnapping, assault and assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm. This took place while Mdluli was commander of the Vosloorus Police Station in 1998. DM