The criminal case against Miriam Segabutla, former MEC of health and social development, was postponed to March 27 next year at a brief court appearance last Friday.
Segabutla appeared in the Polokwane magistrate’s court with her two co-accused, Pieter Erasmus and Johnny Lucas.
The case involves tenders awarded to her two co-accused to the value of R16 million.
Segabutla was released on bail of R25 000 in March and her co-accused were also granted bail following their first appearance. This was the second postponement of the case.
Segabutla, who was a member of the ANC’s national executive committee, was asked to step down following the case that was opened against her in March.
Late last year the public protector, Thuli Madonsela, in her report called Befuddled Interests, found that Segabutla exposed herself to situations involving risk of conflict between her official responsibilities and private interests and she had not acted in the interest of the department.
Erasmus, owner of Trispen Solutions, and Lucas, from Tsepo Technology Consulting, were reportedly awarded tenders of R7 million and R8 million respectively for forensic investigation of procurement negligence and wasteful expenditure of R74 million, as well as an investigation into the R200 million health information system.
