GEORGE NEWS - The five accused in the War on Waste case briefly appeared in the George Regional Court earlier today, Friday 22 April.
The case has been postponed for another six weeks and will continue on 2 June.
Getting everyone on “the same page” proved to be a challenge, in the absence of proper pagination throughout the hefty document.
The accused are former municipal manager Trevor Botha, former director of community services Walter Hendricks, former George mayor Melvin Naik and two municipal officials, Wessel Robertson and Rowan Botha.
The Hawks Serious Commercial Investigation served the five accused with court summonses in September 2020 on charges of fraud, corruption and contravention of the Municipal Finance Management Act.
The charges relate to Naik's mayoral project, War on Waste.
The court heard on a previous sitting in March that some pages in the documents were missing and some were illegible. The state prosecutor and defense's legal representation met later that month to discuss these matters.
Today the court granted another six weeks to get everything ready for a pre-trial.
State prosecutor Adv Xolile Jonas said the procurement of the software needed to assist with the scanning and pagination took time. “We are now in the process to scan the dockets,” he said.
Magistrate Emma Moloro granted the request for a postponement by both the state and the defence, to synchronise themselves.
Botha, Hendricks and Naik have previously proclaimed their innocence in the case. Hendricks is represented by a Cape Town law firm, Davidson Badrodien Attorneys.
Trevor Botha, Melvin Naik, Wessel Robertson and Rowan Botha are represented by Clayton Samson of Jansen & Samson Attorneys in George and Trevor Botha is represented by Regan Brown.
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