The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has ruled for retrial of the corruption accused who were acquitted in the R24.9m Nulane tender case.
Lambasting the court judgment that acquitted Nulane Investment head Iqbal Sharma, high-ranking former Free State agriculture department officials Peter Thabethe, Limakatso Moorosi and Seipati Dhlamini, and businessman Dinesh Patel, judge Ashton Schippers and acting judge Thandi Norman said their acquittal was a “failure of the justice system”.
Ronica Ragavan, head of Islandsite Investment, a company linked to the powerful Gupta family, was also among those acquitted by acting high court judge Nompumelelo Gusha.
The Gupta family is said to have looted government coffers using their connection to senior politicians during president Jacob Zuma’s tenure.
The SCA delivered the judgment on Thursday, which marked a crucial win for the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) after bruising losses in state capture-related cases.
The Nulane Investment case was among the first state capture cases the NPA pursued for prosecution.
The accused faced fraud and money-laundering charges and were acquitted by Gusha in 2023, in a judgment in which she remarked that the case was handled in a “lackadaisical manner”.
The state accused the officials of awarding the R24.9m contract without following tender processes in handing it to the Gupta-linked company Nulane.
The SCA found Gusha to have been the one who mishandled the case.
“It is ordered that the respondents may be retried for the same offences in respect of which they were acquitted by the Free State high court on April 21 2023, as if they had not previously been arraigned, tried and acquitted, provided that a different judge shall preside over the trial.”
The SCA judges said the high court judgment was fraught with errors.
“The high court made numerous errors of law that resulted in the acquittal of the respondents,” the judgment read.
“This is unfortunate, particularly in a case such as this, where it was prima facie established that scarce public funds were unlawfully extracted from the department and channelled to the United Arab Emirates by fraud and the misuse of power.
“This subverted the aims of the project to generate income through farming and alleviate poverty, undermines the functionality of democratic institutions and endangers the rule of law.
“The trial in the high court can be summed up in a single sentence: this was a failure of justice. Regrettably, this erodes public confidence in the criminal justice system.”
NPA spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga said the appeal by the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (Idac) against the judgment was launched after a thorough interrogation of Gusha’s judgment.
“The Idac team took the view that the judge erred in applying the test applicable in terms of section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. This SCA judgment confirms our view.
“This judgment paves the way for Idac to reinstate the case within a reasonable period. The NPA remains resolute in its stance of effectively prosecuting and holding accountable those responsible for state capture-related corruption.”
The NPA has been under pressure to restore public trust after suffering blows in high profile cases including the one against Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant Moroadi Cholota who was extradited from the US to face corruption charges.
The case of Eskom boss Matshela Koko in a R2.2bn corruption matter was struck off the roll by the Middelburg specialised commercial crimes court in 2023 due to delays.
Corruption charges against politician Zizi Kodwa and his co-accused businessman Jehan Mackay were withdrawn late last year.
Update: June 18 2025
This story has been updated to reflect the judgment was made by judges Ashton Schippers and Thandi Norman.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.