Prosecutor protests against delays in Andile Lungisa's R Kelly fraud case

03 June 2015 - 17:40 By Dominic Skelton

The case of former National Youth Development Agency head Andile Lungisa and his three co-accused was postponed again on Wednesday. This time the delay is to allow the National Prosecuting Authority to respond to representations the defence had submitted on Monday to the prosecuting agency.Lungisa‚ his wife Ursula Sali‚ as well as business associates Thabo Shogole and Xolisile Guqaza‚ appeared briefly in the Johannesburg Specialised Commercial Crime Court on charges of fraud.They allegedly defrauded the Department of Arts and Culture of R2.5-million in 2013 by claiming fees for the appearance of American R&B artist R Kelly at the Nelson Mandela Sport and Culture Day concert at the FNB stadium. The singer‚ who was in South Africa on tour‚ was unaware of the arrangement.The case has been postponed at least three times for Lungisa and his co-accused to make representations requested by the state 20 months ago.The court also had to be postponed twice because Lungisa had been too ill to attend.State prosecutor Ronel Dookun said this morning the delays were prejudicing the state unduly‚ and she suspected something "dubious" was at play. She said the counsel for Lungisa‚ Mthetheleli Lindwa‚ was “lax”.Lindwa said he had sent the representations to the NPA via email on Monday‚ and he handed Magistrate Brian Nemavhidi proof that he received a reply on Tuesday from the NPA saying the matter would be attended to.Nemavhidi postponed the case to 9 July to allow for the representations to be read. He asked Lindwa to supply the state with the NPA’s response. He also reinstated the conditions of Lungisa’s R10‚000 bail...

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