Update
GEORGE NEWS - The five accused in the War on Waste case appeared in the George Regional Court last Friday afternoon, 25 February, for a pre-trial.
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 state prosecutor and defence's legal representation will meet again on 24 March to make sure any remaining issues are ironed out. The next court date is 22 April.
Adv Marius Gerber, for Hendricks' defence, said previous requests for proper pagination were not met. He said it is not possible to go to trial if everybody is not literally on the same page. Some pages in the documents were missing and some were illegible. Requests for additional information and proper pagination were made as early as May last year. "How are we to know if we have all the documents, if all the documents are not numbered?" said Gerber in court. "There will be continuous adjournments. We are talking about thousands of papers." The documents in question comprise about 15 files.
State Advocate Xolile Jonas said the state has been nothing but accommodating towards the defence: "The state has always been there to make sure every accused is accommodated."
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.
Botha, Hendricks and Naik have previously proclaimed their innocence in the case. The case is heard by Magistrate Emma Moloro. 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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