WATCH: State’s case against former Durban mayor, co-accused postponed again

Reporteres were kicked out of court as the state’s case against former eThekwini Mayor, Zandile Gumede, and 16 others was postponed again.

Gumede and her co-accused face multiple charges of fraud, corruption and racketeering relating to a R430 million Durban Solid Waste tender dating back to 2017.

Shortly before proceedings were about to begin at a packed Durban Specialised Commercial Crimes Court, Magistrate Dawn Somaroo ordered every person to leave except the accused.

Somaroo’s reasoning was that the 17 accused would take up the whole courtroom and social distancing would not be possible.

The Durban Magistrate’s Court had to be closed twice in the past month for deep cleaning after a magistrate and staff member tested positive for Covid-19.

The matter was deliberated for over an hour behind closed doors.

Advocate Jay Naidoo, who is representing Gumede and two others, told reporters that the magistrate granted the prosecution team a further six-week extension.

“The investigations are not complete, they have not received the bank statements and certain cellphone records. So the court has given them six weeks to obtain all that information,” said Naidoo.

The trial was set to begin on 16 April but has been postponed several times, with the prosecuting team citing the national lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic as the reason why they are not ready to proceed.

“By 10 September, if they are not ready to tell us that the investigations are complete, I’m going to bring in an application for the matter to be struck off the roll,” said Naidoo.

About 50 Gumede supporters gathered outside court with placards and waited for the former mayor to address them.

Gumede, who has maintained her innocence, condemned the magistrate’s decision to kick out the media from the court proceedings.

“What does it tell you when (prosecution) they were accusing us of all these crimes the media was there so they could report on the wrong news, but now that our lawyers have started exposing them they are chasing the media out,” said Gumede.

Gumede, who is reported to be running in the African National Congress eThekwini regional chairperson elections, said she is hopeful the matter will draw to a close soon and clear her name.