For the 26th time, the Commercial Crimes Court for the Regional Division of Mpumalanga, sitting in Mbombela, once again postponed the sentencing of eBundu Lodge owner Sibusiso Albert Tshabalala on Thursday, September 18.

According to the provincial spokesperson of the National Prosecution Authority, Monica Nyuswa, the matter was postponed for three reasons.

“The matter was postponed because the correctional supervision officer was absent due to other work commitments in Mozambique, the accused instructed a professional to compile a psycho-legal report for him and it is not yet complete, and lastly, the accused requested the court to consider the legal implications of the recusal of the magistrate who dealt with the trial and convicted the accused,” said Nyuswa.

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She added that the judgment regarding the request was reserved and would be delivered on October 9.

Tshabalala was convicted on three counts of corruption after he and his wife, Ntombizodwa Katlego Tshabalala, were arrested following allegations that the couple had defrauded their own business, eBundu Lodge, by issuing fake invoices and pocketing the cash. Ntombizodwa was acquitted of the charges.

The situation unfolded in 2018 when the Tshabalalas bought a 66.7% stake in the highly popular lodge – situated between Mbombela and White River – from Willem and Enesta Janson for R32m.

Janson approached the police after discovering invoices amounting to over R200 000 for services that had never been rendered, showing that the money was paid into the couple’s personal accounts without his knowledge.

The relevant banking account details had been changed so that the money would be funnelled into the Tshabalalas’ personal accounts, and they were arrested on eight charges of corruption, forgery and money laundering.

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Reasons for previous court postponements include Tshabalala changing lawyers and a magistrate having to recuse himself after he was offered R10 000 to not hand out a custodial sentence.

Janson told Lowvelder that he was disappointed about the latest postponement, saying that court processes were being abused.

We are sitting here with very senior politicians in Mpumalanga coming up with interference after interference in this matter. We have been battling for seven years with this. We built the lodge brick by brick over three decades ago, only to end up becoming victims of fraudsters who came all the way from wherever with the aim of destroying a big business,” said Janson.

“It’s an absolute farce, absurd and bizarre. It is as if we are playing marbles and it’s of no consequence,” he said, adding that he has names of high-level people involved in the matter.

“This place was very busy but was destroyed within three months after the purchase of the stake. It has 120 rooms, lots of conference rooms and swimming pools but is now under business rescue. Employees have lost their jobs,” he said.